The Greek Egyptian
by SwirledForever
Summary: Kyra Antona was special. I mean, it's not everyday you meet someone whose mother is a cat. And yes, her father was most likely drunk when she was created, but that's beside the point. Oh, and she doesn't cheat. Her boyfriends do know about each other. Just remember, her life is crazy and you'll be good when you meet her. (Name recently changed from Mesh)
1. Chapter 1

**You probably know this already, but I don't own all of these characters and ideas. I just twisted them a little. Okay, okay, I'll admit... a lot... so dont' get angry if I change stuff around that you really liked the way it was... Pweeaase?**

Prologue

My mother owned and operated an expensive high-end restaurant before I found out that I was actually the daughter of a cat and a wine god and destined to marry a half-blood who was the heir of a galaxy called Asgard as an alliance. This, of course, was before I knew who my father was, before I knew anything other than what any normal human would know. This was when I had a stepfather whose architectural work was in high demand all over the country, causing him to travel a lot. While I had an older stepbrother, Carlos, and a younger half-sister, Rohana. This was when I was employed at my mother's restaurant as a waitress and an unofficial taste-tester. I really should've seen it coming. I didn't look anything like my mom; actually, we were like complete opposites. For her short blonde pixie cut, I had long, ring-like black hair that I swear, in the right light, showed undertones of purple. For her sparkling, crystal green eyes, I had deep, mysterious, indigo colored irises. For her tan, beachy complexion, I was more like a porcelain doll. For her energetic, bubbling personality, I had an artistic way of looking at things and a strong belief that there was a song for every part of anyone's life. But I suppose, like every good story, we should start at the beginning, and not the end.

...

Chapter 1

"Oh, Kyra, could you pleease get my table for me?" I could feel the wind as Alicia, my mother, ran past me.

"What is it? An ex?" I questioned.

Yes, even though she was married, had been married for five years now, guys didn't seem to know when to give up. She'd already gotten three restraining orders in the past month or so.

"No, no, not exactly. I just… need a mirror… yeah… pleease Kyra?"

"Okay, fine," I consented. "Go find that mirror."

She smiled gratefully and rushed off again.

The only downside to her personality was that she never really thought of me as her daughter. The bright side was that we were best friends.

My mind wondered whom it was that could've sent her running to me. It could easily be just a food critic, as she never trusted anyone (even herself) to serve them but me. When the table came into sight, I almost laughed.

She hated it when Diego came by without warning.

"Hey, there's my favorite waiter!" His Spanish accent flavored his speech.

"Waitress, Diego," I corrected with a smile. "How long are you in town this time?"

"Couple weeks, maybe a month or two," He shrugged. "My next project was cancelled."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Diego. I know you were looking forward to designing that one. Do you know why they cancelled?"

"Money. Or something like that," He said dismissively, and then leaned closer whispering conspiratorially. "But between me and you, I think they were scared."

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Then they're definitely not worthy of your time."

Yeah, my step-dad was kind of scary. He was tall, muscular, and he looked like he could be in a gang. When I first met him, I was scared, but that was before I learned that he was actually very gentle and would only hurt you if you presented a threat to anyone he cared about. So I was actually safer than I had been before I knew him.

"Does Carlos know you're here?"

He nodded, "I called him right before I came here, so he and Rohana should be here soon."

"Sooner than you think," Carlos commented with an accent that matched Diego's from behind me and I turned to him. "Hey, chica, I didn't know you were working today. But then again, you're schedule always changes."

I rolled my eyes and hugged him, "You know I work whenever Mom needs help!" Then I turned to our little sister. "You want a kids menu this time, Rohana?"

"Yes, please, Kiya," She was adorable, but then again, weren't all four-year-olds adorable? No, I guess not.

"Okay, here you go," I handed her one I always kept in my apron and two crayons: red and yellow, her favorite colors.

"Thanks Kiya!" She hopped onto Diego's lap to commence coloring.

"So, you guys want anything?"

"Well, I don't know," Carlos sat down and flipped through a menu half-heartedly. "Surprise us!"

"Don't complain then," I smiled mischievously, took their menus and their surprise order to the kitchen, and went to find my mother.

"Mom?" I tapped on a stall in the bathroom. "It's just Carlos and Diego, Rohana's there too. You know they don't care what you look like," I knocked again. "Mom?"

"You… didn't see him?" She finally answered. "He didn't try to talk to you?"

"Um, no, I don't think so," I replied in confusion. "Who's "he"?"

She didn't reply, instead unlatched the door and proceeded to wash her hands.

"Mom, you're not being honest with me," I warned that she was breaking a sacred code.

She took my hands, "I promise, pinky promise, that I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Tonight?" I raised my eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, tonight."

The meal was unusually tense. Or maybe that was just me. Something wasn't right and I couldn't let myself relax. That could also be that I felt like someone was watching the table. Or maybe it was just the cameras we had just installed.

Either way there was definitely some creepy suspenseful music in the distance of my imagination. Kinda like the theme of Jaws.

Of course I wouldn't get a chance to find out what was about to attack me until after we had gone home for the night and I was sitting cross-legged on my bed. Almost anxious, really.

"Kyra? I didn't think you'd still be awake," My mom peers through the doorway.

I look at her with raised eyebrows and she sighs.

"I guess I didn't really expect you to forget either," She sat down on my bed beside me and hugged a nearby pillow, copying me stance. "I just got off the phone with someone very important. We were talking about you."

My mind raced to who it could be and the worst scenarios came to mind: the principal, the police, the CIA, or maybe it was the president! No, I didn't think so. For all I knew, it could've been the drug-dealer across the street who took pictures of me with his cell phone whenever I walked by.

I really hope not.

_Really._

And then the shark attacked.

"It was your father," She says a bit nervous. "He wants to see you."

Okay, the drug-dealer was sounding pretty good right about now.

"My father?"

"Yes, that's what I said," She smiled. "I think you'll like him. You look just the same."

"Mhmm. So I'm supposed to like him just because he looks like me?"

"No, Kyra," She laughs. "Trust me on this. I've arranged a meeting tomorrow at Carlos' work. He'll take you there and if you want, he can stay with you. It'll be for lunch, so just go there after your dance classes."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course!" She hops off my bed and heads for the door. "It'll be fun. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I reply.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"You should be glad your father wants to see you," Carlos chastised through the Bluetooth inside our motorcycle helmets. "My mother would be happier killing me."

"That's not true," I admonished his stretching of the truth. "Sure, she might not be happy to see you, but that doesn't mean that she'd be happy with a murder charge! But I am glad you came with me."

"Chica, are you kidding me? I would've come even if you didn't want me! I mean, who knows? This guy could be some psycho rapist for all we know."

I punched his shoulder, "You're not helping my nerves here! Besides, Carlos, he can't be that bad if my mother was okay with this meeting."

"I guess you're right, Chica," He says with a smile as we approached the quaint restaurant that he was currently employed at. "But it doesn't change the way I think about him."

I shrug and then remember he can't see that, "Well that's okay. You don't have to like him. I mean, he's not your relative."

He laughs as he pulls into his parking space and turns off his Kawasaki Ninja he got for his sixteenth birthday, looking back at me, "We're here."

"Imagine that," I smirk and dismount, removing my helmet and shaking my hair out in one fluid motion before something catches my eye. "Whoa."

"Yeah, whoa. Isn't that your dream bike, Chica?" Carlos is standing beside me also admiring the beautiful lines of the bike I've always wanted.

"A 2008 Suzuki GSXR750. Orange and black, with orange flames on the gas tank. Exactly my dream bike," I look longingly at it while I describe it verbally, it's hard to keep my hand from reaching out to touch it.

"You like it?"

"I love it." I answer without thinking and then realize that it wasn't Carlos who asked. I turn, but can't make out the features of the man's face. "Oh, is it yours?"

"No, it's yours," His voice smiles and he moves so I can see his face.

Purple. He has purple eyes. Like really "wow that's actually purple" eyes.

I blink when what he said sinks into my brain, "Excuse me? No, it's not mine. I wish it were. That'd be amazing. But no," I end with a melodramatic sigh.

"What if it was a gift? A first meeting gift, from me?"

I smile, a bit puzzled, "That would be nice, but I don't think I could accept."

"Hmm," He looks over the motorcycle in deep thought and looks back into my eyes with anticipation and almost pleading. "An early birthday present? You'll be able to drive it when you turn fifteen."

I laughed shortly in surprise, "How did you…? Oh, you're… aren't you?"

"That I am," His eyes twinkle slightly. "Pleased to officially make your acquaintance, Kyra. It's been a while and I don't think you'd remember me."

"Nope I don't," I laugh and accept the hand he extends to me. "Of course, it didn't really help that you didn't ever decide to visit."

He shrugged apologetically, "Yeah, I guess that wasn't very thoughtful, was it?"

"No," I reply unemotionally and look to Carlos only to find that he had already left, probably after I had discovered that the man before me was my long absent father. "But it doesn't really matter, now. It's not like I'm gonna hold it against you or anything. You had your reasons."

He smiled, "Well, thank you, I guess. You hungry?"

"Famished," I say with a wry grin. "I slept in today and didn't have time to grab any breakfast. My dance classes start early. Really early."

"Then let's get inside before you faint and you can tell me more about this early dance class," He opens the door for me and follows me inside.

Once we were seated at a table near the window, we started to get more acquainted. I learned that he lived in Greece where he owned a successful vineyard, lived with a big extended family, and we shared personalities just as we shared looks. I was definitely his daughter. He asked about my dance classes and I gladly obliged to tell him about my dance schedule. I started in the morning with not really a dance class but I still classified it as that. Yoga came first, to stretch me out, and then I did a bit of ballet, followed by belly dancing, ballroom dancing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then modern dancing. I also casually mentioned pole dancing before hurriedly explaining that it was for exercise only and my mom always encouraged me to try new things and so I did. And now and then, Carlos would teach me another break-dancing move.

"Fascinating," He said with a smile, leaning forward on his elbows as I finished the last of my lunch. "I've never been that avid of a dancer, although I enjoy an occasional dance."

"Ballroom?" I guess.

"Exactly," He nodded and picked up a menu. "I like to finish up the meal with something a little extra, it's kinda a tradition."

"How long have you kept this tradition?"

"Years," He waves his hand dismissively. "I don't care to say because that would make me look old. It would make me feel old."

I laugh, "I see."

"Wine?" My father asks, looking up from the menu.

I notice that he is being extraordinarily generous as the wine at this place was highly overpriced and not worth the money. Not just because he got me my costume dream bike.

"No thanks, under-aged, remember? Besides, my mom would have a fit" I smiled. "And the stuff here really isn't worth it, so says my step-brother."

"Oh, yes, that's right. But I don't let anyone tell me how good wine is before I taste it myself, but thank you for the warning. Hmmm," He flips through the menu. "I think I'll take the Cabernet Sauvignon."

My nose wrinkles in disgust as I remember the time Carlos convinced me to try it.

My father smiled in amusement at my expression, "Not your taste?"

I nodded, "I prefer sweet wine, that one's too dry."

He laughed, "I thought you didn't drink."

I blushed and looked around sheepishly, "I didn't say that. I said I was under-age, (which is true) and my mom would kill me, (also true) and the wine here isn't worth it (very true)."

"Well, to each their own then," He smiled as Carlos came, took our orders and left. "So tell me, when do you drink?"

"In private, Father," I replied saucily.

"Oh, please, call me Dion," His face burst into a knowing grin. "We hardly know each other, so calling me 'father' doesn't feel comfortable, am I right?"

My smile was one of relief, "Very."

"So, you don't drink in public, or around your mom (stop me if I'm incorrect) so there is only one place I could think of for you to drink," He looked at me and I motioned for him to continue. "It would have to be with the one person you really trusted and, from what I've gathered, that would be your step-brother, Carlos I believe."

I nodded, "You got me."

"And it is none other than your step-brother who is waiting on us, correct?" He seemed to be solving some great mystery, although I hadn't known there was any.

"Yes, that's right."

He smiled and leaned back in his chair, looking around in satisfaction, "He loves you."

"Yeeeaah? We're kinda siblings," I shrugged off the matter, but he wouldn't let it slide.

"I'm just trying to warn you before he says anything. Just want you to be prepared," He cocked his head to the side and studied me, leaning forward. "You love him too, don't you? Dammit, I knew this wasn't going to go well. I tried to warn Alicia about letting an Egyptian get too close!"

"What do you mean you tried to warn Alicia? Are you talking about Diego? But, of course, you couldn't be. He's not Egyptian he's Latino. But that still leaves the question, what are you talking about?"

A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth, "Why are we at Carlos' table at the same time he just happened to be working?"

I rolled my eyes, "And here I thought only teenagers were allowed to answer a question with a question. He's protective, that's all. He gets it from his dad. And he thinks you'll hurt me, that you're some sort of psycho rapist (his exact words)."

He laughed, "Do _you_ think I'm a psycho rapist?"

"Not yet," I look him over with an assessing gaze.

"Would you if I told you you're coming to live with me for a few days?"

"Uh, the chance increases. Who decided this?"

"You're mother and I. You're going to have to trust that she wouldn't send you off with anyone dangerous."

"Okay," I shrugged as my mind tried to grasp on to trust. "And why am I going with you?"

"Well, this is the part you're probably not going to believe, because it will challenge almost everything you thought before. So just try to keep an open mind."

"Go on, I'm listening," I tried to do as he said and keep my mind open to all possibilities.

"You aren't normal, not really mortal. A demigod, actually."

"A what?" The word triggered something in my mind, but I couldn't place it.

"Half god."

"And who do I get the god part from?"

"Me."

"Right."

My dad was a lunatic.

I jumped from my seat and dashed to where Carlos' motorcycle was parked. I got out of there as fast as I could and locked the door of our apartment behind me, collapsing on my bed, hoping he wouldn't try coming after me.

"That was a waste of energy."

I screamed and scrambled back on the bed, grabbing the closest thing I could to use as a weapon which happened to be a pillow.

My father laughed and tugged at the pillow, "That's not going to do you much good. You know, you ran off without giving me a chance to explain anything and you didn't keep an open mind."

I pressed myself against the wall, clutching the pillow tightly as if it was a lifesaver and I was drowning. He leaned on my desk across from me and, with a sigh, ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"You see, your mother wanted you to have a normal childhood, and we agreed that it'd be best if I didn't have any contact with you. I knew I couldn't leave you completely alone, that'd be like having you murdered, so I put a protecting spell on you. Unfortunately, it only lasts for fifteen years, so I had to return."

My brain processed the information, but all I could think of to say was, "But I'm not fifteen for almost four months."

"You weren't considered one on the day of your birth either," He reminded.

"Well, fine then, get it over with and leave me alone!" I was working on convincing myself that this was all a bad dream and I would wake up when he was done.

He bit his lip, "You'll have to come with me."

"Where?" I felt dread rising in me.

"Olympus."

"Wait, that's all the way in Greece! You're crazy; I'm not going with you."

"You kind of have to," He shrugged apologetically. "Unless you feel up to fighting a Minotaur alone."

"Uh, Minotaur?"

"It's headed here as we speak," His tone was relaxed, but his eyes were scanning outside of my window. "We'll probably run into it, but if we leave now we can meet him on a battlefield of our chose."

"Well, let me get some stuff."

"We packed for you, Alicia and I," He stood up and moved toward the door. "It's waiting on the plane."

"Plane? Oh, of course," I laughed nervously.

What did I think we would take? A fire-breathing dragon?

"Yes, so come on," He held the door open for me as I walked through.

I stopped in the living room, "What about Carlos? I want him to come."

"He can't!" Dion answered sharply. "My family won't like him. They might even try to kill him."

"Why?"

"Because of his blood. They'll have a hard enough time accepting you. Now let's go, I'd rather be to the runway than inside this building when we have to fight."

He tried to nudge me towards the door, but I wouldn't move.

"Get him a ticket."

"Did you not hear what I said? They'll _kill_ him. He'll _die_. He can't come."

"Would you listen to yourself?" I glared at him, "You're the one ruining _my_ life! This is the least you could do. He's coming."

He threw his hands up in exasperation and practically growled at me, "Fine, he'll be there. But I won't be the one defending him when he's about to be blown to bits."

I nodded in satisfaction and headed toward the door. A dark shape hovering over the window caught my eye. It was big and hairy and smelled like a cow pasture. I heard Dion curse under his breath.

"What is that?" I gulped and inched backwards towards the door.

"Just don't do anything to draw its attention, alright?" He cautioned.

I nodded mutely and stepped back. My foot landed right on Rohana's Barbie microphone and it started singing 'Barbie Girl'.

Definitely not the right song for this moment. This was more of a 'Derezzed' by Daft Punk sort of moment.

The dark mass shifted and two giant, glittering red eyes were staring through the window. Right at me, their target. Frozen by fear I couldn't do anything, sure that this creature would be my undoing.

Like a flash, something jumped between the now roaring beast and me. It pulled out a wand and shouted three ancient words that sounded suspiciously like Egyptian. Sparks of glowing symbols flew at the creature, causing it to stagger backward and roar in pain.

"Come on, Chica," The figure turned to me, "I believe we were going to catch an airplane."

He grabbed my arm and propelled me towards the door.

"Carlos? How-where-Wha?" I stammered and stumbled down the stairs.

"Whoa, Chica, careful now," He didn't answer any of my questions, just continued pushing me onward to some unknown destination.

"I'll take her," I had forgotten that Dion was there, but he was and didn't look pleased with my stepbrother's sudden arrival.

"Does that mean I get to watch the monster?" Carlos seemed to share his attitude and stepped back as Dion took his place guiding me forward.

"You do realize you just made it angry, don't you?"

"Well what did you expect me to do? He was about to tear down the building!" Carlos' voice was tinged in frustration.

"Nothing! I had it under control."

He snorted, "Sure."

"You don't know much, do you?" My father's gaze swept over Carlos distastefully.

"I know more than I'd like to know," Was his only reply.

Dion was leading us somewhere I'd never been and I couldn't conceal my shock when we stumbled upon this random open field.

He noticed my expression and explained with as few words possible, "Private airway. It's my father's."

I didn't have time to ask the question that was on my lips because a huge shadow flew over us and landed with a thud before me.

It was…well… huge! And covered in matted fur from its waist up. Two horns protruded from its head above its glowing eyes. It roared in victory and began running towards us.

Again, I was frozen, although this time my mind was singing,

_I need a hero! I need a hero to the end of the night. He's gotta be fast and he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero! I'm holding on for a hero 'til the morning light. He's gotta be fast and he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be larger than life. I need a hero!_

I heard someone shout and I felt myself being pulled to the side and down to the ground as a silvery iridescent arrow flashed by me, burying itself on one of the monster's eyes. It stumbled back a few steps, and then reached for a massive battle-ax strapped to its back.

"What? That's not fair!" I protested and Carlos told me to keep quiet with a warning look. "I want a weapon! Do I get a weapon?"

Another arrow hissed past, blinding its other eye. The figure that shot it crouched down beside us.

"Mom?" I asked incredulously, taking in her ancient Greek armor, bow and arrows and glowing bronze sword at her side.

"Speak softly," She cautioned. "He still has perfect hearing."

"Oh," I whispered, "but… Mom? What are you wearing? Why? And when did you learn to shoot? What _is_ that thing?"

"A very angry Minotaur who'd like to tear you apart," She really answered none of my important questions and then gave some sort of bird call. My confusion grew abundantly when Diego stepped out of the trees on the other side.

"What's he doing here?"

"Excellent question," Dion agreed.

"He's helping," She answered with a glare at Dion. "Wait here."

"But…!" She was already gone.

I watched in shock when Diego pulled out a staff that transformed into a Siberian tiger and began attacking the Minotaur. Sadly, the tiger was easily defeated. He threw fire, hailstones, and even angry monkeys! But nothing worked.

"Why can't he kill it?" I asked.

"Because that monster is Greek. Egyptian magic won't do anything but make it mad," I turned hurriedly to find a green-eyed blonde guy with a delicious English accent who had suddenly appeared.

"I-uh-who?" I stammered.

"Crispin," He offered his hand with a smile. "Mr. D said I could catch a ride to Olympus with him."

I took his hand shyly as Dion commented dryly, "Oops, I forgot about that."

I shook my head at him and turned back to the fight, noticing that my mom was successfully sneaking up on the beast while Diego kept him distracted. Before I knew it, she'd disappeared and reappeared on top of the Minotaur's head.

"How?" I began.

"Iris," Dion answered, explaining nothing.

The monster roared and turned around, trying to locate its attacker. My mom clung on impressively and even managed to draw her sword. She impaled him in the head and the Minotaur dissolved in a yellowish cloud. Then she was falling! Just before she hit the ground, she vanished again and appeared beside Diego.

"I love it when she fights," Dion remarked, "but I hate it when she kisses other guys."

I glanced quizzically at his annoyed facial expression then back to my mom who was caught in a lip-lock with Diego.

I shrugged and glanced back to him, "They're married, you'll get used to it."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," He murmured as Carlos stood up and glanced around.

"Come on, Chica, we need to get out of here."

"Carlos is right, Kyra. We need to leave before the others arrive," My mom and Diego were suddenly beside us.

"Others?" I replied, my voice weak.

"Yeah, you're kind of wanted dead," Diego stated, nodding coolly to Dion.

"Why?"

"The monsters feel cheated because you've gone unnoticed all these years," Alicia replied.

"Are they coming to?" Crispin was terribly confused.

"Yes."

"No."

My father and I said at the exact same time.

"They're coming," I said with finality.

"Diego's staying to look after Rohana," My mom reminded.

"Fine, Carlos is coming."

His gaze darkens in annoyance, "You're going to get him killed."

"Hey, I can protect myself," Carlos argues.

"In Olympus? I don't think so."

"We'll see."

Dion shakes his head, but doesn't continue fighting. A plane appears from the sky, lands and taxis to a stop. We follow him on board and I'm impressed by the inside. It was really nice. Of course, it could also be that I hadn't ever been on a private jet before. Something to think about. Other than the crazy story that my mother and father were now telling me.

I was actually supposed to believe that the Greek mythology that I've been learning in school was real and my mother was actually a half-blood (like me) daughter of Iris so that made me technically a three-quarter-blood and that could make my father's (the Greek god of wine, Dionysus) family unhappy because it was more of a risk to keep me alive (I'm still not sure why) and so they could want to kill me (although no one will tell me why they would kill Carlos)?

Yeah, sure, I don't think so.

But did I get a choice?

Nope!

But what I really couldn't believe was that both Diego and Carlos had known this all along and didn't tell me! You could say I glared at him severely for most of the plane ride. Eh, he'd get over it as soon as I did.

It took a shorter time than I had thought a "jump over the pond" would take, but I guess that's what happened when you're going insane.

Oh well.

We had landed near a mountain (I'm guessing it _must_ have been Olympus) and had to hike a bit before reaching the base. Thunder shook the ground and it almost seemed as if someone at the top of the mountain was raging over our presence.

"My father's somewhat of a drama queen," Dion remarked and lightning sparked from the clouds.

"Uh, Dion? King, drama king," My mom urged with a slight touch to his arm.

He smiled at her, "So glad we're back on first name basis, Alicia."

She blushed and looked uncomfortable while withdrawing her hand quickly.

"Are we," I cleared my throat, "going up there?"

"Of course," Crispin stated as if it were obvious. "That's why you came here, right?"

"Well, yes, I was just hoping we could do it here. Where no one could possibly die."

"Won't work. Carlos has to stay here," Dion answered shortly.

"What? No! Why?" I objected.

He rolled his eyes. Clearly, I was just being 'difficult'.

"We've been over this. If you want him to stay _alive_ you won't press the subject."

My jaw tightened, "I'm not going without him."

Now I realize that I _was_ being unnecessarily stubborn, but I didn't want to let Carlos out of my sight. And not just because I needed to glare at him some more.

He accessed me shrewdly, "Do you really want to cause his death?"

"He's right, Kyra," Alicia agreed. "He'll be fine, I'll stay with him."

"What? No, you need to come with us."

"I'm coming."

Carlos took my side of the argument defiantly.

The gaze that Dion sent him was cold, "Your funeral."

But thankfully, he didn't make any more complaints. We crept up the mountain, the thunder roaring once again in protest when we neared the summit. Instinctively, I reached out and latched on to Carlos' hand and a feeling of security settled over me.

Suddenly, the thunder stopped and silence filled the air. Dion looked up with a confused expression. Something about the silence was even more foreboding than the sound. As if the warning had stopped and now we were in extreme danger.

I was about to ask where we were headed when a door appeared within a rock. It was very bright and I was stunned for a few seconds after Dion pulled me through. I held tightly to Carlos' hand, afraid to lose him as I beheld a beautiful city of white marble and gold.

People, or so they seemed to be, stopped whatever they were doing and stared. I inched closer to Carlos and they gradually looked away and went on with their life.

Suddenly, six guards in shining Greek armor appeared, surrounding Carlos and I.

"Uh," I looked to Dion for help.

He simply shrugged as if to say "Hey, I warned you, didn't I?"

The guards tried to pry us apart, but we were inseparable and finally they relented and herded us together to a great hall, with Dion and Crispin following behind (my mother having disappeared, probably wanting to catch up with friends. Maybe.). In the hall were twelve thrones, (with women on one side, men on the other) each uniquely different and mostly filled. Eyebrows raised and whispers were exchanged the moment we were marched through the ornate doors. Dion walked easily past us and seated himself in a purplish throne covered by grape vines. I shot a glare at him, but he shrugged, acknowledging that he _had_ promised not to do anything.

The man on a silvery-gray throne, which had dark streaks of lightning throughout and sat in the center of the hall, leaned forward in interest.

"What are you doing here?"

Not sure who he was addressing, I answered for both of us, "I'm here with my dad and I insisted Carlos accompany me. It's not his fault he's here."

"Actually, it is," Dion offered.

"Shut up," I replied quickly. "You've done enough."

Someone started laughing and I turned to see a man that looked suspiciously like Crispin.

"I like this one, D," He smiled.

The one in the center shot him a stormy glance, "Apollo, not the time. What's your name, girl?"

"Kyra, what's your name?" I didn't mean for it to sound rude, but I guess it came off like that.

His gaze darkened and Apollo started laughing again.

"Zeus."

"Well I'm sorry, Zeus, if I have interrupted your day in any way. If you let us go, we won't bother you again."

"For fifteen years," Dion reminded.

"Seriously?" I glared at him.

"I don't know what your problem is, girl. You have no idea how close you are to dying," Zeus threatened.

I rolled my eyes (an unwarranted action, I know, but I couldn't control it) and spread my arms out.

Oddly enough, that caused the guards to step away and fade into the background. Then I turned back to the front. Zeus had stood up, not necessarily a good sign.

"Go ahead," I stepped forward boldly. "Kill me. You'll find that after you do, I'll not have learned anything. I will simply be dead. And you'll have another girl to add to your list of endless killings. So go ahead, I can't stop you."

I tilted my face upwards, awaiting the wrath my foolish words had undoubtedly stirred.

Instead, I heard words coming between death and I.

"Father, you can't kill her," Apollo's voice was full of barely contained laughter. "She's far too entertaining!"

He got up and walked in front of me, throwing a wink over his shoulder as I lowered my arms.

"Apollo, sit down," Zeus growled. "This is not your affair!"

"Oh, but I just made it my affair," He replied with a smile, stepping back and putting his arm around my waist.

Zeus sighed and sat back in his throne, "And what about her friend?"

He barely glanced at Carlos, "He's Egyptian. I don't care."

Zeus smiled, pointed his staff at Carlos and shot a blast of some sort of power at him.

Without thinking, I twisted out of Apollo's grasp and in front of my stepbrother, catching the power straight in the chest.

I felt electricity shoot through my being as I curled up into a ball on the floor. I sensed Carlos kneeling over me, accompanied by a face my mind couldn't recall. I zeroed in on Carlos, clinging to his familiarity and holding tight to his hand.

"Don't leave," I whisper.

"I won't," He promises, and I fall into darkness.

**MOTORCYCLES! I love motorcycles... just a side note... So now our little Kyra's in Greece with her dad's family that wants to kill her step-brother and murders her instead! Mwahaha! Kidding... that would be a bad story. Continue reading and you can find out for yourself what happens in "The Greek Egyptian"... okay, dramatic moment over...**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Voices in my head tell me that I haven't died yet. I wonder why they're yelling so loud, arguing so fiercely.

"You're the bloody god of healing, there's no way you can't do more!"

"Dionysus, I'm doing everything I can!"

"Well, try harder!"

I sensed one of the voices begin pacing.

"Look, it's not my fault she jumped in front of him!"

"You could've restrained her."

"And Father didn't have to try to kill him, but he did."

"Maybe it's for the best," This was a new voice. "D, you know that your girls always cause wars."

"You can't complain about that, Ares, you love war."

"You're going to call me crazy, but I think that Kyra isn't going to cause wars, she's going to end them."

"What makes you think that?"

"Her left hand. There's an Egyptian symbol on her ring finger, some goddess on that side has chosen her. And then there's the webbing, she's destined to form an alliance with an heir of Asgard. We've all heard the prophecy."

"Are you sure? I know you thought that about your other girl too, and I don't mean to offend you, but that didn't go well. This one could easily get caught up with another man also. Possibly even another super-soldier."

"Hey, guys, come here! I think she's waking up," I could feel two fingers pressed against my neck for a pulse, odd that I couldn't feel that before. I had just been… floating. "Where's the Egyptian, she'll want to see him."

"Ares, go get Carlos," One ordered. "How is she?"

"She," I could hear a smile, "she's got her pulse back."

"Thank Grandmother Rhea," The voice was breathless with relief and a hand grazed my forehead.

"But I don't think her nerves are working properly. It's like they're asleep."

"Well…wake them up."

"If you insist, but remember, you asked me to."

A pair of hands ran over every inch of my face and my head, then moved to my arms, and onward until they had covered every centimeter of my body.

"You don't have to enjoy it so much," One of them grumbles and the other laughs softly.

I shuddered slightly, not used to the feel of the soft bed I must be lying on, or the comforting sheet that someone had just placed over me.

"Can she open her eyes now?"

"I don't think so, that will probably take the longest. Just hope that she wasn't turned deaf, or blind."

"What about mute? Can she speak?"

"Let's find out. Egyptian, come here and see if she'll talk to you."

"Hey, Chica, how you feeling? Yeah, that wasn't the best question taking into account that you were just hit with who knows what. But thank you, you didn't have to do that."

"Yes, I did," I murmured, surprised that I remembered how to talk.

"So she can speak, and she's not deaf, all that's left is her sight."

"No, Kyra, you didn't," Carlos' voice was gently insistent. "You could be blind because of me."

"I'm not," I argued weakly.

"Can you open your eyes?"

"Uh, Egyptian that might not be the best idea, her eyes could be adjusting to something. You don't want to let too much light get to the retina."

"It's okay, I can."

Then slowly I urged the muscles of my eyes to work and my eyelids to open. When they did, the voices had faces.

Carlos, of course, Dion, Apollo, and a rather tough looking man that was probably Ares came into view. Dion's face instantly tightened in concern as he touched my cheek and studied my eyes.

"What is it, Dion?"

"Your eyes," He swallowed. "Apollo, is this normal?"

"Normal? No," He laughed slightly. "Hazardous to her health, not in the least. I've heard of this before. It's what scientists and doctors call Heterochromia Iridis. But actually it's a thing called being Graced."

"Carlos, what do my eyes look like?" I ask him, staring at him steadily.

He swallowed, "Your right eye is almost the same. Indigo, but more purple than it was before."

"And my left?"

"It's," He studied it, "it's green… and… well, Chica… it's a cat's eye."

"Oh," My hand reached up to cover it. "That's… weird."

Apollo shoots me a smile that warms me to my core, "It might alter your sight a little bit, but it won't make it worse, if anything it'll be better. We'll have to wait some before we can figure out what you're Graced with, but after that, you'll be free to do whatever."

I sit up slowly in the bed, grimacing as a pain shoots through my chest, "So… I can't leave?"

He shrugs, "I guess you could, if you wanted to."

"Really, _really_, wanted to," Ares says, having not taken his eyes off me since I found my sight. "You should probably actually stay here. Permanently, maybe?"

"Ares," Dion growls threateningly with a deadly glare.

He finally breaks his gaze away from me, "What?"

"Stop. Now."

"Huh? What was I doin?" He asks innocently with a shrug.

Dion shakes his head at him, "You forget that this is my daughter. Get out."

"Why?"

"Just. Go."

He sulkily obeys with one more glance towards me and I am left in a confused little puddle.

And for some reason, my mind sings:

_I'm a little teapot short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up, hear me shout! Tip me over and pour me out._

And suddenly I'm laughing uncontrollably.

"Carlos, Carlos," I say in between fits, "remember? Your casserole daughter! I'm a little teapot!"

And he starts laughing with me while Dion and Apollo are now the ones in the puddle.

Dion turns to Apollo, "You're sure she's okay?"

"Yes," Carlos gasps, answering for Apollo who had only shrugged, "yes, she's fine. I'd be more worried if she wasn't talking about the teapot."

"What?" Dion begins, but doesn't get to finish as I interrupt.

"Carlos, why did we have to choreograph it?" I sigh and wind up hiccupping, which just leads me into another fit.

"I don't know, Chica. Maybe you should be asking why Rohana wouldn't go to sleep without it," He says, wiping his eyes.

"And then it was all over the internet, oh I thought I would die! That was when the drug-dealer started watching me."

"And when those drunk girls broke into our room, remember? You told them, you told them to get the casserole out!" And he can't say anymore.

"It wasn't my fault! I never leave the window open! It was you, or was it Diego, or Mom?"

He claps his hands, laughing harder, "Rohana, Chica! It was Rohana!"

"Yes," I looked around the room mischievously, "yes it was, I remember now! But all she wanted was the teapot!"

And here I laugh again.

"Uh, care to let _us_ in on this private joke?" Dion hinted, and I nodded, although unable to talk, so I motioned for Carlos to explain.

"A year or so ago," He began, with an enormous smile on his face, "Rohana was going through a faze where she couldn't go to sleep at night unless someone sang her to sleep. Her preferred chose of song happened to be "I'm a Little Teapot" and we decided (very unwisely, oh, and, Chica, that was you're idea) to make a routine. It made her laugh and then fall right asleep, but it got so bad that she wouldn't sleep, actually she would cry until we would do it for her."

"Ookay... and where do drunk girls, drug-dealers, and casserole come into this?" Apollo asks, slightly bewildered, but teasing all the same.

"Patience, my padawan," I say with a giggle. "Actually very soon. We were at a friend's house at the time, (you remember Walt, don't you, Carlos?) and had to share a room on the second floor. Unfortunately, there was a stairway outside the house that lead to our window like a fire escape and Rohana had woken up during the night and decided that we needed to sing to her again so she climbed up the stairs and opened our window somehow (I still think you actually left it open). Since we weren't quite asleep…"

"Well, we weren't quite sober either," Carlos adds with a grin and a wink.

"True. But we saw her and stumbled out of bed in our pajamas (or underwear in your case) and did something that resembled the routine. She somehow got back downstairs and into bed, while we actually fell onto the floor. Next thing I knew, there were bodies all around us, all trying to get at Carlos."

"Yeah… it was pretty nice," He reminisced, and I punched him in the arm.

"So I, being the brilliant detective that I am, decided that there was something wrong with this and that these girls didn't belong there."

Carlos laughs, "Yeah, she actually stood up and started kicking them out of the way shouting 'Get away, that's my casserole teapot! So get the casserole out!' Most of the girls dragged themselves away from me (it was very hard for them, trust me) and back down the stairs to the house next door."

"When the last had gone away, I sat down on the windowsill and started laughing, while Carlos came over to me and said, 'I'm your casserole teapot? Well, you're my casserole daughter!' And we kinda fell out of the window."

"And then you _had_ to start singing," He reminded while rolling his eyes.

"Mhmm," I nodded, almost proudly sad, "and one of the drunk girls _had_ to get a video of it and post it on YouTube. Then the drug-dealer _had _to start taking pictures of me with his cell phone," I shudder, "talk about a creepo."

Apollo laughs and whips out an iPad from somewhere unknown, "What's the name of the video? I need to watch this."

"Nooo, you don't need to watch it," I shake my head furiously. "Especially with my dad in the room."

"Hey, I'll find out somehow," Dion warns and I roll my eyes.

"It's 'I'm a Sexy Teapot'" Carlos says with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Caarloos! Nooo! You betrayed me! How could you!" I slap him across his forehead and he starts laughing.

I turn in surprise when I hear my voice coming from Apollo's iPad, he got there really fast! Then my face turned deep crimson as his eyebrows rose in that 'wow that's hot' look and I pulled the covers over my face.

"You didn't mention that you lost your shirt," Apollo muses.

"I guess I didn't remember that part?" My voice is muffled as I continue to hide my face.

I feel Carlos leaning over the bed and guess that he's probably hiding silent laughter because he's shaking slightly and I don't think he's crying. Then his head appears under the cover with a mischievous smile.

"Ha-Ha, no you don't! This was my hiding place first!" I hiss at him lightheartedly.

He grins, "What, you embarrassed, Chica?"

"Duh!" I hit him softly in the forehead.

"Ouch," He rubs the spot, "why you gotta do that?"

"Because you're my casserole teapot!" Then I start giggling again. The song ends and I'm surprised to hear him start it over. I jerk the covers off my head, sitting up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm watching it again," Apollo's smile is just as wicked as the wink he sends me. "It's too good to watch it only once. I've gotta commit this to memory."

I groan and flop back on the bed

"I thought you only pole-danced for exercise," Dion comments dryly and I realize with horror that he's watching it too.

"I-uh-I didn't say that. I do it because I wanted to try it out. And exercise," I mumble, propping myself up with my elbows. "Besides, I wasn't myself that night!"

"Well you did amazing for not having an actual pole," Apollo flashes me a smile. "And you, Egyptian, did very well in the position of living pole. I'm impressed."

Carlos shrugged off the compliment, "It was easy. She's the one who had to do all the work."

I smile and hit him again, "Shut up."

"Okay," He agrees and I sit up.

"Can I at least get up?"

Apollo nodded, "Yeah, we would only keep you here to help you discover what your Grace was. You're perfectly healthy."

"Good," I say shortly and jump up only to fall back down on the bed. "Ow."

"You okay Kyra?" Carlos immediately asks.

"Yeah, I just," I grimace, rubbing my temple "stood up too fast."

I tried it again, this time slow and careful and managed to stay upright. Then I almost doubled over from the realization that I was _starving_!

"How long was I out again?"

"Five days," Dion answers with a concerned light in his eyes.

I give a weak laugh, "So that's why I'm starving!"

"Oh is that it," He smiles, waves his hand and the small bedside table is covered with fruit and other small things that I can probably keep down.

I beam and immediately grab some grapes and pop them in my mouth, "So can I do that too?"

"Do what?" Dion asks, watching me popping the round fruit like it was popcorn, or pills, with amusement.

"Make food appear. I think that'd be pretty awesome," I say, grabbing a few crackers and more grapes. "It's like, "I'm hungry" *poof* food is here."

He shrugs and a contemplative look crosses his features, "You know, I don't really know. None of my kids ever wanted to, or at least they never asked. So, I guess you could (I don't see why you wouldn't be able to) although I'm not really sure how to explain it."

"That's okay, I'll figure it out," This time _I_ shrug and begin thinking. "So, what do people do here?"

"Well, let's see," Apollo begins with a wicked gleam in his eyes, "on Tuesday's we all get on Zeus' nerves so that he fries us with electricity. Sunday's are usually spent coming back to life. And Monday's we usually have a couple new half-blood's become Graced. Oh, and on Friday's we all go out and pole dance to popular children's songs."

I rolled my eyes and punched him, "Well then I guess I'll fit in perfectly. Now, seriously. Would you answer the question, Dion?"

"Train."

"For…?"

"Battle. There's one coming, a big one, and we need all our warriors ready. The half-bloods are our main force, we gods help… some," He waves his hand dismissively, "But really all our hopes are on one annoying boy. The child of prophesy. I really hate him. But I guess it really just too much to ask for; Poseidon always liked women too much to stay away from them for more than seventy-five years. To be honest, all of us do!" He laughs at his own joke and I give a half-smile; I'm more interested in this prophecy thing.

"So this prophecy predicts what? You guys' death? The end of the world? Unicorns that sneeze deadly poison? What are we dealing with?"

"My grandfather."

Yeeeaah…

That explained everything.

"Ohhhh," It clicked.

Kronos.

Zeus' dear old father who thought that he had eaten him when actually he ate a rock therefore probably smashing some of the immortal children already in his stomach and giving them a nasty bruise. Let's see, who all was in there? Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and… ummm… Hestia, I believe.

"Hmm," I say thoughtfully, "that's not good."

Dion nods with a slight smile on his face, "Probably worse than any of us think. But I guess what happens, happens. "

"So, about this prophecy kid… why is it about him?"

"He's a child of the big three and he's probably going to survive to his eighteenth birthday. Although I wouldn't mind if he died."

I laugh a little, "Why don't you like him?"

"I guess it's just one of those things," He cracks a smile.

"Does that mean I won't like him?"

He thought about this and then laughed, "No. Most likely you'll sweep him off his feet and you'll be best friends."

"Ohk," I shrug with an amused smile. "Will I get to meet him?"

"I don't see why not. Of course I don't see why you'd want to either, but…"

"Now?"

"Uh, sure. If you feel up to it."

"Yay!" I clap and jump to my feet, feeling much better. "Come on Carlos!"

I grab his hand and drag him out the door and then (for reasons unknown to me yet) jerked him down to the ground beside me. Looking around hesitantly, I spotted an arrow firmly rooted in the wall just above our heads.

"Wow, someone wanted to kill us," I joked and cautiously stood up, jerking the arrow free.

I turned around and suddenly jerked back, staring wide-eyed at another quivering arrow centimeters from my face.

"Carlos, stay here. I'm going to go kill someone before they kill me."

He laughed as I grabbed the newest arrow and walked in the direction they had come from. I saw a dark-haired boy at the end of a rather long field holding a loaded bow. He looked like he was about to take another shot, so I started striding towards him before he could. Unfortunately, he didn't notice me before he let it fly and I heard him exclaim something I couldn't quite make out as he realized it was headed towards a living creature before throwing the bow aside and sprinting towards me. I simply twisted to the side and let it fly past me. Realizing I was holding out my arm, I looked down at it to find out why and noticed with a shock that I held arrow in my grasp.

Okay then.

"Oh, gods, you're not hurt are you?" I turned my gaze on the boy who had almost killed me.

"No, I'm fine."

His eyes were the most amazing blue-green. They reminded me of tropical sea water. As soon as I looked into them a song popped into my head.

_You're songs remind me of swimming, which I forgot when I started to sink. _

"You have a green eye," He says bluntly, then blushes.

"That I do," I reply matter-of-factly.

"You're sure you're okay?" I nod, a little annoyed, but then kinda smirked when he saw the arrow in my hand. "You-you caught that? But that's impossible! How-how did you do that?"

"I don't know. I guess it's just a reflex. Are these yours?" I hold up the other two that were behind my back.

"Oh, yeah, they're mine."

"They almost killed me and my step-brother," I hand them over to him.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that," He flashes me a crooked grin. "Archery isn't a strong point of mine."

"Don't worry, I could tell," I reply dryly and give him a wry grin. "What's your name?"

"Percy and yours?"

"Kyra," I reply and he starts laughing.

"Like Mr. D's daughter, Kyra? The one got electrocuted by Zeus?"

"Do you know of any other Kyra's?" I reply.

He shakes his head with a grin, "What you did took guts, it probably wasn't the best idea though. Gods tend to keep grudges for eternity."

I shrugged and made a face, "He'll get over it as soon as I do."

He smiles again, the corners of his eyes crinkling, "You ever shot before?"

"Arrows? No way. A shotgun's a different story though, so is a pistol. I guess it couldn't be that hard, though."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," He rolls his eyes, "but I just can't get it. You wanna try?"

"Sure, I'd love to, but I gotta get my step-brother first. I ordered him to remain there while I killed someone."

"You were gonna kill me?" His eyes are serious and I wonder if he takes everything that literally.

"No," I answer with a roll of my eyes, "it's a thing called sarcasm. Heard of it? Unless you want me to kill you."

Relief floods his features, "No, that's okay. I'm sure there's probably a waiting list or something that you'd have to sign first."

I laugh, "Popular guy, huh?"

"You have no idea."

I nod, "I'll be right back."

I bring Carlos back with me and introduce the two. Percy looks slightly confused when he sees him but doesn't say anything. I grab the bow from his hand and an arrow, knocking it like I had seen it done in the movies.

"Like this right?" I ask Percy, pulling it back, ready to fire.

"Yep."

"And I'm aiming for the red on that target right in front of me, right?"

"Yeah, you can aim for the others when you get better, but just focus on that one for now."

I nod to show him I understand and let the arrow fly. It hits the center of the target with a satisfying _thud_.

"Wow that was amazing!" Percy exclaims in excitement. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were from the Apollo cabin! I've never seen anyone else do that on the first try."

"Really? But it was so easy!" I tease him and he rolls his eyes in return.

"Hey, Chica, try getting the others now," Carlos urges.

I nod and confidently shoot another one, grabbing another arrow before I see if it hits or not and shooting it towards a different target. Both of them meet their intended targets.

"Nice," Carlos nods in approval and I smile.

"I still don't believe it," Percy shakes his head while trying to hide a smile. "I mean, none of your other siblings could do that. I don't get why you can. But anyways, Chiron will be thrilled to see this! You're like an archery prodigy."

"Uh, thanks I guess," I blush some and turn back to the targets, before whipping back towards him. "Wait. I have other siblings?"

"Yeah, two brothers and a sister. Have you not been to camp yet?"

"No," I reply.

"Oh I see," He nods, "well I'll go get the arrows and then I'll show you around, okay?"

"Okay," I agree with an amused smile as he jogs off to gather the arrows.

Soon he's back and motions for us to follow him, "I have to drop these off at the armory first. It's right next to the forge. A little ways away from it is the training arena. The cabins, mess hall are all in one area, and the big house is near the strawberry fields."

"You have strawberry fields?"

He laughs at me, "Of everything I've said that's the only thing you find strange?"

"Well it's the only thing I find delicious," I wink conspiratorially at Carlos and he starts laughing.

"You crazy Chica," He fakes a punch to my arm and I dodge him, grabbing his arm and pulling him closer.

"Don't hit me," I whisper, my smile ever-present.

"Just trying to knock some sense into you," He winks and taps the tip of my nose.

"Hey!" I wrinkle my nose. "You casserole teapot!"

He tilts his head back and starts laughing again, stepping back as I let go of his arm. I turned to find Percy and see that he isn't there. I hadn't noticed we were at the armory already.

"This Percy guy, I think he's the prophecy kid," Carlos commented after his laughter subsided.

"What makes you think that?"

He shrugs, "I guess it's just a feeling. But I'd bet you five dollars I'm right."

I roll my eyes and hit him in the forehead, "Okay, I'll take you up on that. Maybe you can reduce the amount you owe me."

"How much do I owe you, Chica?"

"Fifty dollars," I say with a grin.

"Fifty? I thought it was ten," He replies.

"With interest," I laugh at his face and he tackles me to the ground.

I struggle to get away, but he _was_ stronger than me and we just ended up rolling around, getting grass stains on our clothes.

"Kyra?" I heard Percy call.

"I'm over here Percy," I reply, having been effectively pinned down by a grinning Carlos.

"Oh," He cocks his head when he sees us and I realize what a compromising position this is. "Whatarya doing?"

"Fighting over a bet," I say with a straight face. "He doesn't believe that you can charge interest if you don't get paid by a certain time. And I even warned him that I would do it, too!"

"You did not, you lying casserole!" He argued with a grin.

I gasped in feigned shock, "You think I would lie to you? To Percy? Why, I never! I might just have to forget that fighting agreement that we have!"

His eyes widened and he quickly rolled off me. I sat up and grinned wickedly at him.

"You'll never not fall for that."

"Hey, I gotta protect myself 'cause I know you could mutilate me for the rest of my life," He replies getting up and standing a healthy distance away from me.

I laugh at him and grab the hand that Percy was extending to help me up. A strange current runs between our hands, causing my vision to be spotted with light and I start with surprise, before deciding that this was probably normal for him. Hopefully. But one look at his eyes reveals that he was startled as much as I was and slightly worried about what it might mean.

Odd suspenseful music aside, I let go of his hand and look around.

"Okay so, armory," I point it out, looking to Percy to see if I'm right. "Forge. Training arena?"

"So you were listening," He teases with a grin. "Oh, and Beckendorf."

"Beckenwhat?"

"More like Beckenwho, Chica," Carlos says with a wry smile as I whip around to face this giant being.

"Uh, hi," I say, cursing my five foot three height as I have to look way up to see his face. A smile plays on his dark lips that part to reveal flashing white teeth. He reminds me of Diego; the younger, African-American version. "You're Beckenhoweveryousayit?"

"Beckendorf," He replies, extending his hand which I promptly shake. It's a strong, calloused hand that isn't afraid of work. "And you're Kyra."

A laugh escapes my lips, "It would appear that I'm famous."

"More or less," His smile widens as he turns and calls back to the forge, "Hey Kirsten! There's someone here that you're gonna wanna meet."

The girl that came out wiping her hands on a cloth was very dirty. Her complexion was most likely tan, but right then she looked almost gray because of the layer of soot and various other things covering her skin. She had a very dark smudge across her cheek, her collarbone, both arms and (even though she'd wiped them) her hands where just as dark as Beckendorf's. Her eyes, beautifully dark, lit up with a smile that animated her whole face. Some would say it was a cocky grin because one corner of her mouth lifted higher than the other and dimpled deep into her cheek.

"No way, Kyra? Beckendorf, I should kill you for not callin' me sooner," She punches his arm none too lightly and I smile at the southern twang in her voice. Siblings I'd say, half or step and very close at that. "I can honestly say that you've got the most nerve of any half-blood that ever lived! And I think we're gonna be friends."

"Yeah, she'll be your friend once you get cleaned up," Percy teased mischievously.

"Hey, you can't tell me that the girl who stared down Zeus is afraid of a little dirt and sweat!" She jabbed him in the ribs.

"No, but she's probably afraid of what lives in your hair," He stepped back quickly to hide behind me.

"I'm more afraid of you with a bow," I retorted stepping to the side as Kirsten jumped on him, instantly pinning him to the ground.

"Okay, I give, I give!" He relents easily.

"Surrendering so soon, Percy? And here I took you as a fighter," My mocking voice is filled with laughter and I'm sure my eyes give my joking away.

"That's 'cause he knows that he can't beat me wresslin' and never will," Kirsten put in a satisfied smile on her face.

"Oh, yeah? I bet Kyra could beat you," Even on the ground Percy couldn't help but taunt her.

"Well I guess we'll just have t' find out sometime in the near future, now won't we?" She sends a conspiratorial wink in my direction and I burst out in a grin. I know we're already great friends.

"Tomorrow, I bet she'll have you pinned down faster than you'd have time to react," Percy boasts and I roll my eyes to avoid blushing.

"Oh? You got mad battlin' powers or somethin'?" She stands back up with another grin towards me.

"I wouldn't say that," I shrugged, trying to turn the subject away from me. "Actually I've never wrestled anything but Carlos here before. And in all honesty I do have an advantage over him too."

"Yeah, but isn't that about what you said before you shot those targets?" Percy gets up and dusts himself off.

I blush, "That's a little different."

He shakes his head with a smile, "Not much, actually, but if that's what you want to believe…"

"So this is where you disappeared to."

I twirled around to face Dion with a blush and a small smile. "Yeah, I must've jumped through a portal or something. Wait, do you have those?"

He studies me with amusement, "Not that any half-blood has used before."

"Cool," I smile. "Now let's see, what else can I discover that no one ever knew about?"

I noticed Percy studying us intently, and I really wish I knew what he was thinking.

"They look so much alike. It's like they're almost twins. But they don't act the same. Kyra's a lot nicer than Mr. D. A lot easier to look at too," The words tumble out of his mouth, and then he looked around in surprise and almost horror. "Did I say that out loud?"

I blush and my mind goes spinning for an answer, but comes up with none.

"Hmmm. I see you've met the child of prophecy," Dion says coldly.

I send a glance towards Carlos who shrugs like "told you" and glare at him for a few seconds before returning my gaze to my dad.

"I guess I have. And I think you were completely right. There's no hope," I hid my grin.

"Wait, wait a sec. No hope for what?" Percy asks in concern.

"Us being enemies," My face breaks into a smile and he breathes a sigh of relief. "But honestly, though, are you always this serious?"

He blushed and looked down, "I don't know. Maybe."

"Unfortunately, Kyra, campers here don't have much time to not be serious. A shame really. It keeps them from being eaten, or killed, or worse," Dion answered with an unconcerned wave of his hand.

"Uh, great," I nodded, "I guess."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll adjust in a few weeks, or maybe months."

"Yeah, well thanks for the encouragement," I put on a cheesy wide grin. "You make it sound like the best place on earth."

"Agree to disagree," He smiles back at me. "On second thought, you'll probably never get used to it and you'll drive Chiron mad because you break so many rules and do so many things that are actually fun."

"Who's going to drive me mad?" The voice came from behind me and I turned to look and wound up staring.

Up and down, down and up, my gaze studied and swept across the man/horse. I guess you would call him a centaur.

"Oh, you're new, aren't you?" He spoke and woke me up from the daze I had sorta slipped into.

Blinking a few times, I replied, "Yes. Very new. "

He laughs companionably, "I can see that. Did you receive a tour of the camp yet?"

If he's wondering how in the world I got here, he hasn't voiced it yet.

"Um, nope. But I think I was about to."

"Chiron, my daughter Kyra came here from Olympus through a secret portal I didn't know existed."

"Oh, you're Kyra," He already looked tired for some reason. "Welcome to Camp Half-blood. I hope your stay is enjoyable."

"Well thank you, I'm sure it will be. Can I call you Chiron? Or do you go by a Mr. or something other that's different?"

He smiles, though not as bright as the first one he gave. "Just Chiron will do."

"It's nice to meet you," I extend my hand and he looks surprised. "I'll try not to be any trouble. And I'm sure whatever you've heard about me is over-exaggerated."

He cocks his head to the side as if to get a better look at me and I offer him a smile. He nods in acceptance, maybe, and then turns to Carlos.

"You're not a half-blood," He says accessing-like.

Carlos thinks about this, inhaling, "No. I don't think I am."

"How did you get in here?"

"Oh, he's with me," I cut in, then exclaimed quickly, "my stepbrother. He's my stepbrother."

"My name is Carlos," He offers his hand also. "I'm a… magician."

Chiron looks startled at this announcement and I silently wonder what that means.

"A magician?" He repeats.

"Yes. Egyptian. We almost got to kill him," Dion remarks.

I roll my eyes at him and he smiles.

"Okay, so _I_ wasn't going to kill him, but Zeus sure tried," He corrects and I smile.

Chiron, well really everyone else, still couldn't figure out what to think of him. Percy noticed the slight awkwardness and directed the attention back to me.

"Chiron, you won't believe it. Kyra's literally an archery prodigy; you've _got_ to see her shoot."

"Hey, she's no prodigy if she's better than you. I think my two year old sister could out shoot you, Percy," Kirsten hit him playfully and he rolled his eyes.

"No, Kirsten, I'm serious," Percy pushes his point. "She said she didn't have any experience and then she goes and shoots targets that some of the Apollo kids can't get a bulls-eye on."

They all study me and I can feel Carlos grin. I smile awkwardly and shrug, not sure how to explain anything at all.

"Hmmm, I'll take a look at that tomorrow. Why don't you take her to her cabin for now, I'm sure she's still not completely recovered from her… injury," Chiron suggests and I have to admit, I do feel kinda exhausted.

"Oh, yeah, of course I forgot. I'll take her there right away," Percy offered quickly. "But Chiron, I still need to talk to you about something else. Don't let me forget."

His eyes meet mine and I could tell he wasn't done talking about me.

_Great_.

Chiron nodded in acknowledgement and Percy took off, gesturing for me to follow him. I did the same for Carlos and we arrived at a cabin that had vines that I somehow knew where grape around the doorway and climbing around the walls. It was a pretty little house looking thing that had almost an Italian feel to it. I felt immediately comfortable there.

"Welcome to Cabin Twelve," Percy smiles and does a little bow.

"This is nice," I reply with a smile of my own.

"It's supposed to make you feel at home," He says. "My cabins a bit further down. It's number three. But I don't have any sisters or anything. My half-brother lives under sea most of the time. Your brothers are probably in the fields. I don't know about your sister, possibly the big house caring for injured campers and stuff. She's got a way of making people relax."

I nod and try to hide a smile. I don't think he realized it but he was just talking to say something, anything.

He noticed my expression and blushes. "And I don't know why I'm telling you all this. Do you?"

I shake my head with a small smile, "You're just trying to make me feel more comfortable."

"Yes," He immediately catches that idea and points a finger at me, "yes, that's exactly it."

I laugh and look around once again noting the four beds lining the walls.

"They must've known I was coming," I comment, still smiling before sitting down on the vacant and noticeably unused bed. "Even the bed's perfect."

Percy smiles again, "Yeah, well, I'm gonna go now. I need to talk to Chiron before he gets drug into something else."

I nod and he starts to leave but I stop him easily by saying his name, "Percy?" I almost laugh at how fast he spins around. "If you find out anything about me, you'll let me know right?"

He thinks about this, "Yeah. Of course, I'll make sure you know."

"Thank you," I smile softly and lean over, curling up on the bed.

"Oh, um, Carlos, right?" He must've forgotten that Carlos was still there. "I don't know where you'll be staying. I'll talk to Chiron about it."

I wave my hand tiredly, without bothering to open my eyes, "It's okay. He can stay with me. We'll share a bed. It's not like we've never slept together before."

A moment of silence comes and I realize that didn't sound quite right.

I sigh, "Not like that. Just sleeping."

Percy laughs nervously, "Yeah. I knew that. Well, bye."

I hear the door shut and Carlos climbs over me to wrap his arm securely around me. It was the only blanket I'd ever needed.

Things were really strange. They were downright weird! Everything I had ever known was altered in some way or other and it felt like I was losing what little control I had over my life. Keeping an open mind was hard. Even Carlos had changed. Not that being a magician made me trust him less, no, he was still Carlos, still my brother, still there for me. And as long as he was, I'd be willing to believe that we actually lived on Mercury and Earth was uninhabitable.

**And she LIVES! :) and gets heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridum whichever floats your goat... and yes, I did just say goat hehe... and is Graced... Have any of you read the book Graceling? It's really good... And yes I _did_ mean to change the prophetic age for Percy to 18 because it makes him older than her and that's a good thing. Imma tell you right now because a few of you might be freaking out because it sounds like Kyra's a Mary Sue (which she might be but it's not purposeful) Percy and Kyra do _not_ get together. He is interested in her, but it's more from curiosity. They've never had anything like her. Yeeaah, I think I've talked enough sooo... I'll shut up.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"So this is the new sister, huh?"

"Yeah, she's worthy of Aphrodite, not one day and she's caught with a boy in her bed."

"Sounds like you, Castor."

I blink my eyes open and notice three people had come into the room. Darkness had fallen.

"Whoa! She's really got a green eye," One of the boys exclaimed, startling back onto the bed on the opposite wall.

"What? No, way. I thought that was a rumor," The other one jerks around to look at me.

"You're Kyra, right?" The girl asks much more sensitive.

"Yeah," I answer, slipping out of Carlos' arms and sitting up.

"I'm Audrey. This is Castor and Pollux."

"The constellation?"

"No, the sons of Dionysus," The first one who noticed my eye, Castor, remarked.

"Oh," I nod, noticing that they have the same curling blackish hair as me and purple eyes.

Carlos shifts around and Pollux gets a knowing grin on his face.

"So who's he?" He smirks.

"Carlos, my stepbrother."

He starts laughing, "Man, she's worse than you Castor!"

"What?"

"You're sleeping with your stepbrother."

I roll my eyes, "Not like that!"

"Suure, whatever you say," Castor winks, and my eyebrow raises.

"You saying that you actually think I'd sleep with my brother?"

"Stepbrother. And it's not unheard of," Audrey chimes in. "Not that you would. Some people do have morals. I mean, even these two prostitutes aren't going to sleep with, well you for instance."

"I don't know, I might," Castor jokes with a smile, "kidding. But only 'cause it's different. We actually have half of the same gene. You and him don't."

I shrug and Carlos stirs, sitting up, "Who are you?"

"Audrey, Castor and Pollux," I point them out. "Don't worry, they're siblings of mine."

"Oh, I see."

"He's got an accent? I'm in love," Audrey teases.

Carlos looks confused and I shake my head with a grin. I think I'll have fun here.

"It's night time?"

"Yeah, we were told not to bother you or wake you," Audrey answers, rolling her eyes at our half-brothers. "But you don't always get what you wish for."

"Oh, that's alright. Do I get to go back to sleep?" I ask wearily.

"Yep," Castor nods. "Well, if you're actually planning on sleeping."

I roll my eyes at him and lay back down. I'm half-asleep before some unknown person or thing starts trying to pick the lock, being not at all stealthy about it.

"Connor, Travis, what are you doing?" Audrey's voice is annoyed. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"Yeah, sorry, but we heard there was a new girl here. Had to check it out, you know?"

"Right. Well she's sleeping, kinda almost died, in case you haven't heard. And needs her rest, so come back later."

"Oh come on, Drey! Just one look, we won't wake her or anything. Only want to see what she looks like. Please?"

She sighs, "Fine. You have thirty seconds."

The sound of four feet scrambling to my bed reaches my ears.

"Wow, she's a beauty."

"Yeah, too bad she's already taken."

"Taken? By who?"

"Me, of course. This guy won't last an hour after she's been around my charms."

"Okay, guys, times up, get out. Oh and try to lower those egos before you hurt yourselves."

My internal alarm clock wakes me up thirty minutes before sunrise and I look around, noticing that everyone else is sound asleep. Spotting a pen and paper on the bedside table that belonged to Pollux (the owner of the other bed on my side) and I quickly jot down a note for Carlos before slipping out the door into the refreshing morning air. Realizing that _everyone_ is asleep I stealthily make my way east in the grayish light and find the ocean below a small cliff. I reach into my pocket and find my iPod, taking a moment to wonder in surprise how it got there before putting in my ear-buds and starting my morning playlist. I sat down and focused on my breathing and let my mind clear so that it was just me and the nature surrounding me. As the suns edge peeks over the sea, I recall to my mind what I would be doing in my Yoga class and reenact it by myself. Since I had been doing it for a while I was pretty flexible and could do some of the more difficult poses. I ended on my variation of the one-legged inverted staff pose.

I'm startled out of my peaceful mindset when I hear applause and immediately bend back to standing, trying to locate who made the sound.

"Bravo, bravo," A voice calls out.

"No, Travis, more like 'Encore!'" A different guy calls out.

I finally locate the figures on a tree branch. Two boys, twins I think and I have no idea how long they've been there. Apparently they liked my yoga.

"You're right, Connor," The one on the left, Travis agrees. "Encore, encore!"

I roll my eyes, taking out my earphones and placing my hands on my hips. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching," Connor smiles.

I look out to sea and back, "Do I know you?"

"You're about to," He answers easily as he slips off the branch followed by Travis. "I'm Connor."

I shake his extended hand tentatively, "Kyra."

"This is my brother Travis. We came out here to watch the sunrise and there's a beautiful girl looking so serene and peaceful that we couldn't bring ourselves to disturb you."

They both had messy brown hair that fell into playful blue eyes. Travis was a little taller with longer hair and liked to keep his hands in his pockets. Connor, though shorter, was more confident and smiled a lot. They both looked a little confused about my eye, but thankfully they just accepted it.

I laugh and cross my arms, "Right. That's why you clapped, huh?"

"Well, yes and no," Travis answers this question. "That was just so amazingly flexible that we couldn't help ourselves."

"Oh, of course," I nod, not believing them, but deciding they were okay and letting them continue their game. "So you like yoga?"

"Oh yeah, it's an amazing stress reliever," Connor nods.

"You ever done it?"

"Unfortunately no, it's more of an admiration. Haven't really had time before."

I had to hand it to Connor, he didn't dig himself into a hole he couldn't get out of and anyone else would've bought it in a heartbeat. I didn't only because Carlos had schooled me in the way of flirting boys and I could tell when they were just playing the part.

"Well, hey, I could show you a few poses if you wanted," They looked hesitant, so I decided to encourage them. "Don't worry, they'd be really simple, but if you don't want to it's okay. I mean, a lot of guys prefer watching girls than doing it themselves, so it's completely normal."

Connor thinks about it and I can almost hear his mind working. "Actually, that'd be fun. I'll do it, I don't know about Travis, but it'd be nice. Maybe we could make it a daily thing? Of course, I don't know if you have anything going on or anything…"

"Oh yeah, that'd be great," I smiled, looking forward to getting to know him. He intrigued me. "What about you, Travis?"

"Ah, not for me," He shrugs apologetically. "Morning and me don't get along. I've actually made a deal with it, see I can't get up early more than once or twice a month."

I laugh, "Sounds nice. I only get up early because it's the only time I have where I don't feel hurried. But anyway, join us this morning? Seeing as your already up and all."

"I guess it can't hurt anything," He replies with a grin.

I nod, "So first thing, face the ocean. Easy enough, right? I feel that the just seeing expanse of the ocean allows me to let loose all my problems and drown them. I think the first pose I'll teach you will be the boat. It's very simple and it stretches you out very nicely. There are a couple variations, but this is the easiest," I kneel down and they follow suit. "Now what you're going to do is grab hold of the heel of your foot and bend backwards, allowing your chest to arch like this," I demonstrate for them, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. "Then you just stay here for a few minutes and… try not to fall over," I say this with a humorous smile as I remember the first time I tried it. I really thought I was going to fall.

A few moments pass by before I call myself back to reality where I was sure that they had been studying me instead of really trying.

"And now, you can straighten up and let go of your heels," I instruct them as I do it and stand up. "Congratulations gentlemen, you just did yoga."

"Thanks," Connor says, the mischievous twinkle in his eye capturing me. "Hey, you think you could do that one position again? You know, just wondering how you did it and everything."

"With lots of practice," I reply, shrugging, "and I guess it won't hurt anything, so…"

I go down on all fours, then into a handstand where I drop my elbows down and bring one of my legs to the ground, close enough for me to almost touch the heel.

"That's seriously amazing, how do you do that?" Connor's voice reveals his awe and I feel him graze his fingers over the back of my knee.

I bring my other leg to the ground and push myself off and upright smoothly. "I told you, lots of practice."

They nodded in amazement and I smile slightly before deciding that I should probably head back to Carlos and walking off, knowing that they would walk with me at least for a bit.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Travis checking his watch and curse under his breath. "Hey, Kyra, it was real nice to meet you and all, but we've gotta get back to our cabin before they send out a search party and we've already gotten in trouble eleven times this week. Chiron will kill us if we reach twelve before Tuesday."

I laugh, "I see, well you better run. So see you around I guess."

"Oh, hey, if you need anything, like a tour-guide or something just look us up," Connor offered. "We're in cabin eleven."

"Okay, thanks Connor," I nod with a wave and walk away before hearing them take off like they were running a race to save their lives; which might be accurate.

I shake my head at them but know that I wouldn't be without friends here. Speaking of which…

"Kyra, there you are," Percy jogged towards me. "I went by your cabin and you weren't there, so I got worried. I'm glad I found you."

Smiling at him, I reply, "Yeah, I left a note for Carlos, but I don't know he might not be awake yet. I was at the cliff over there, you know, just meditating and stuff."

"Oh," He nods, "I see. It's almost breakfast time. You hungry?"

I shrug, "Not particularly. I usually eat about ten, so I guess I'll have to take a little bit to get used to this schedule."

"You usually get up early?" He asks as we start walking again.

"Yep, thirty minutes before sunrise. Every day except Saturday."

"Well, what do you do between then and ten?"

I shrug, "I dance."

I feel his eyes run over me and he nods, understanding my lithe form now.

"Cool. I don't," He confesses.

I can't help but laugh, "Everyone can dance. It's just a matter of if you're good or not. Really you just need to find a type of dance that suits you."

"And what style suits you?"

"Ballet," I wait until he nods and then hurry through the rest of the list. "And belly dancing. Ballroom. Modern dancing, pole dancing. Break dancing. It varies."

He laughs, "You can say that again. I don't think I've ever heard ballroom and pole dancing in the same breath before."

Smiling I shrug, "That's 'cause you've never met me before."

"True," He acknowledged.

Our conversation is cut short when I see a couple tough girls with a few boys surrounding a very familiar figure.

"Oh come on, I told Carlos to stay out of trouble," I grumble and run over to him, breaking through the circle easily.

"Oh, hi Chica, nice of you to come back," Carlos smiles.

"Whatever," I roll my eyes and turn to the leader of the group. A muscular girl who looked like she wouldn't hesitate to break bones. "Who are you?"

She snorts, "Who am I? You must be new. I'm the one who asks questions around here. Who are you?"

I roll my eyes, "You tell me, I'll tell you."

"You're worst nightmare," She replies, getting up close into my face.

"Oh, I see. I'm so sorry," She smirks, but I'm not done. "I'd be angry if my parents named me that too."

She grabs the front of my shirt and backs me against a tree, "Say that again, Mixed Breed, come on, say it again!"

"That's a new one," I say with a smile. "Never been called a mixed breed before. I kinda like it."

Anger flares in her eyes and she brings back her fist to punch me.

"Come on Clarisse, lay off her. There's no telling what Mr. D would do if he found you'd punched his daughter."

She throws a glare at Percy, but slowly releases her grip on me. "You got lucky today, Mixed Breed. Just wait 'til Friday. I'll get you then."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll be looking forward to it," I reply confidently before she walks off, cursing at the other people gathered there. I turn to Percy. "Clarisse, huh? She seemed nice."

He laughs, "Yeah, well, you gotta be careful around her. Being the daughter of Ares, she's got a temper."

"Ares? I think met him. Right Carlos? You were there," I started smiling. "He made me remember about the teapot."

"Yeah, yeah, chica, I remember. He was checking you out pretty intensely."

Percy looked a little confused, but at the same time he understood. It was enough to put me back in that little puddle. As if he can read my mind he begins talking.

"Okay, I understand about the "checking you out" part, but what does a teapot have to do with it?" He gets a startled look on his face, like he didn't mean to say that and wasn't sure why he had.

Carlos gets that evil glint in his eye (well not really evil, but you know what I mean) and opens his mouth to speak.

"Oh, no you don't!" I slap his mouth shut and Percy has a shocked, yet laughing smile on his face. "You will _not_ do this to me again! It's bad enough it's probably spread around Olympus, now you're gonna ruin my life here too?"

He rubs his jaw, but still has that smile on his face. "I wasn't planning on it, but now that you mention it, Chica, that's a good idea."

"Just shut up, casserole."

He did as I said, but I could see surprised laughter and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Percy, we were going to breakfast, right?" I smiled at him dazzlingly, decided to ignore Carlos.

He nods and I hooked my arm around his, much to his surprise.

"Well then, let's be off," I catch a glimpse of Carlos rolling his eyes before we make our way to the mess hall.

I let go of his arm before we get there, so as not to give anyone the wrong idea. Still, when we arrived, the joking voices quieted to a dim nothing and curios eyes took me in. I bit my lip in uncertainty, my gaze floating over the crowd to find a face that I would recognize besides Clarisse's hate-filled gaze.

"Kyra!" Audrey called and soon materialized by my side. "Come on, I'll show you what to do. Just ignore them."

I find myself smiling, but still feel uncomfortable under the scrutinizing glares and find myself wishing I had thought of maybe putting on a little make-up beforehand. Every table we pass immediately begins to murmur and my cheeks are undoubtedly pink. We join a short line and she instructs me to pick anything I want, then to burn a portion of it in a bronze bowl type thing.

"Why?"

"Because it's an offering to our father."

"Uh, isn't that a little strange? I mean, he's right here."

She smiles, "Yeah, you'll get used to it. Oh, and not to make it sound even stranger, but you usually say something to him. Like a prayer or thank you or whatever."

"Oh." I nod and throw a bit of fruit into the flames, trying to think of nice thoughts and thanking him for the motorcycle that I had foolishly left in Boston.

It was kinda weird. No, it was very weird. But, hey, if that's what they did here, then alright. I was about to move on when a thought struck me.

"Audrey, can we do this for anyone?"

She cocks her head and studies me. "Any god or goddess, I guess."

"Okay."

Then I burn some more food, this time directing my thoughts to my would-be murderer.

_Zeus? Yeah, I'm sure you don't want to hear from me, but I just wanted to apologize. My behavior wasn't what it should have been. Even though, yours could've been better too… Sorry! That just sorta slipped out. Anyway, even if you don't forgive me, I wanted you to know that I'd try to be better in the future._

I only realized that I had closed my eyes when sounds of awe and murmurings of "Wow" and "That's beautiful" came to my ears and I opened my eyes to see what they were talking about. I looked up to see a beautiful full rainbow stretched over the open part of the pavilion, the part I was under. Then, I noticed that it wasn't just one, there were three, all coming together directly over me and pouring a spectrum of colors over my body.

A smile came to my lips as I realized that this must be a sign from Zeus saying it was all good. I lifted my hand to my mouth and blew the sky a kiss as a thank you. Suddenly the rainbows dissolved and showered me in colorful rain. A laugh escaped my lips as I remembered what Dion had said. Yes, he was definitely a drama queen-uh-king.

I looked around and shock and awe was written on everyone's face causing me to blush. I almost laughed when I caught the look on Chiron's face. Disbelief was etched into every centimeter and he looked about to pass out.

"That wasn't normal, was it?" I ask hesitantly and laughter greeted me.

Dion was sporting a dry smirk and I could tell we shared the same amusement in Chiron's state. Audrey's mouth was starting to quirk up in a grin and she leaned over and dusted some shimmering substance off my sleeve.

"Well then," Was all she said and I grinned at her.

"Come on, I'm starting to get hungry. Where do we sit?"

She laughed and led me to the twelfth table where Castor and Pollux were staring at me.

"This is our table," She explained and I nodded, sitting down beside her.

"So, why does everyone sit at different tables?" I say after a few bites.

"It's a rule here, each camper sits with their cabin," Pollux explained.

"Oh," I reply. "Where is "here"?"

Castor smirks, "Long Island, New York. Where else?"

I choke on the cantaloupe that I had been attempting to eat and Audrey pats my back as I cough.

"New York?" I ask hoarsely.

"Yeah," Pollux says, with a glance to my other brother.

"How's that possible?"

"Uh, your mom probably drove you here. Or you were scouted by a satyr."

"No, no, I was just in Greece! In Olympus, just two days ago. And I walked out a door and I was here."

Castor starts laughing. "So that's what they were talking about."

"What?"

"We overheard Chiron and Dad talking about you and how you crossed an ocean in the blink of an eye," Audrey explained.

"Oh."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Pollux shrugs. "For all we know it could've been a gift that Iris gave to you."

"Iris? But that's my mom's mom… I think."

"Maybe it rubbed off on you," He replies while studying me intently.

"Maybe," I say hesitantly, fingering the still empty cup that Audrey had handed me.

She smiles at me now, "Oh, I forgot, if you want something to drink you've just got to say it, or think it. Whatever you want, you'll get it."

"Oh," My face brightens and, not really thinking about it, suddenly it's filled with a deep red drink.

I breathe in the scent. Ah, yes, Lambrusco. Now _that_ is good wine. Suddenly I my eyes meet Dion's and he shakes his head with a smile and I can tell he's laughing inside. I grin in return and lift the cup slightly in a silent toast before taking a drink and noticing that my siblings are looking at me almost enviously.

"What?"

"Chiron doesn't let us drink that. The cup won't give you anything alcoholic," Audrey says quietly and I shrug.

"Oh, well, here," I start to pass the cup around but then stop when I noticed that the contents of their cups had changed.

They notice too and grins appear on all of their faces and they raise their glasses toward me before quickly emptying the contents only to have it refill itself.

We then proceed to laugh and drink for a while until I realize that most of the people have already left to go to other activities.

"Uh, guys, you think we should leave now?" I ask and they look at each other.

"Maybe," Audrey says sheepishly. "I do need to get back to the infirmary."

"And we should probably get to the fields," Castor says with a disappointed expression.

"Not so fast," I turn to see Dion standing behind me. "You know that under-aged drinking is against the law."

"Oh, it was, uh, my fault," I say but can't contain a grin. "Care to join us?"

My siblings looked shocked and almost horrified that I had just admitted to our misdeed, but I knew what I was doing.

"That's all you had to say," He replies with a smile and sits down in between Audrey and I. "So what's on the menu?"

"Lambrusco," I reply and laughing when a disgusted look fills his features. "What? It's a good breakfast wine!"

"And you two actually like this?" He asks his sons and they smile.

"Weeeelllll," Castor begins, but I cut him off.

"Say no more!" I declare. "If you don't appreciate my good taste, you can leave."

He rolls his eyes at me and Dion waves his hand.

"You'll like this one," He assures and the two boys nod after they sip it.

I roll my eyes and throw a glance at Audrey behind Dion's back that said "Can you believe them?"

She laughs and nods in agreement. At least someone understood the way my taste-buds worked.

From nowhere Dion pulls his own wine glass out and fills it with some other sort of terrible wine. I shudder at the smell (causing him to laugh) but can't help but admire how the dark red looks through the intricate designs. It's clear, but etched and filled with silver designs some places, opal in others.

Once he drains it, I reach for it only to have it snatched away from my reach.

"No one touches my wine glass," He instructs and anyone else would've apologized, but I could see past the warning and knew it was more of a challenge.

"Puhleeze? Can I just look at it?" I beg and he shakes his head, pleasantly surprised that I accepted the dual.

My eyes sharpen and my lips twitch upward into a smile. "Okay then. It's the hard way isn't it?"

He can barely contain his grin and as I lunge for it, he falls back and catches himself with his hand.

"Mine."

The word was enhanced by the mischief in his eyes and I wondered if he had never had anyone play with him before.

Wow. Now I'm making him sound like a lost puppy.

Somehow I knew the glass was indestructible and I reached for it again, this time he flips over, catching me and I land with a thud underneath him. It doesn't really hurt (even though I'm sure from the surprised cry that came from my mouth you would've thought that something terrible had happened) and so once he gets up, I jump to my feet and grab for it. He holds it high above his head and I try to leap for it, but end up glaring at him because he's well over six feet and I'm… not.

"That's not fair!" I complain and he smiles.

"Life isn't fair," He reminds.

Growling, I ricochet off a nearby bench and almost manage to grab it out of his hand but don't and would've split my face open had he not caught me.

"This is somehow familiar," He muses. "Almost like dancing."

I can't help but laugh before quickly reaching over my head and performing a walk-over out of his arms.

"Maybe it is," I reply, and finally realize that the reason my siblings aren't helping me is because they're doubled over in a strange mixture of shock and hysterical laughter.

He retreats every time I step forward and, once we're on the softer surface known as grass, I lunge for him again. He easily sidesteps with a large smile, but I wipe the smile off when I pull him down by his leg. I reach across him, hoping to use the surprise to my advantage, but he simply grabs my hand, flipping me over and pinning me to the ground with his knee to my back.

"You're very good at this," I comment and hear his laugh.

"I've had practice," He replies wryly.

"Will you teach me?"

"You'll find you know more than you think."

I grin to myself, he was right. And he found that out when I flung my feet up and hit his back. I was kind of an extortionist, but really it came from years of yoga. He fell almost on me, but I rolled away and he found himself in the same position I was in.

"I guess you're right," I smile. "Now can I see it?"

He groans, "Fine."

Apparently he hadn't taken yoga. I grabbed the glass from him, but didn't dare let him up until I was done with it. I twisted it and let it catch different rays of light. Although I had never seen it before, there was a familiar symbol painted discreetly throughout the design. And then I knew I had seen it before. A long time ago. But then, recently too.

I had totally disregarded my odd birthmark since I was seven, but now, I looked at the fading lines on my left ring finger and compared them to the design. Huh, this was weird. Not really thinking, I moved to place my mark on top of the glass's and was _not_ expecting it to cause a jolt to flow through my body and practically through me a foot or so.

I momentarily blacked out, but then shook away the darkness and sat up, holding up my hand to stare at it. The almost invisible scar-like mark was now vicious red like a new scratch or burn mark and I was surprised to see that blood dripped down my hand because it wasn't bleeding. There was no opening in my skin, just blood.

"Kyra, are you okay?" Dion quickly examines my hand and his eyes are filled with confusion and his mind is trying to find an answer.

"Yes, I'm," I answer, "I'm fine. I really don't know what happened."

"All I saw was a light," He remarks, then slyly grins, "That's what you get when you mess with my wine glass."

I roll my eyes at him and push him on the shoulder none too gently with my good hand. "You're impossible."

"That may be true," He speculates. "Oh, but just so you know I brought your bike with me. It's actually quite portable."

I look at him completely confused. "What?"

He smiles and stands up, offering me a hand. "Come on, I'll show you."

I follow him and realize he's taking me a bit farther out of the camp to a long area of open pavement, kinda like a runway.

He motions me to stop and I give a nervous laugh.

"Is this where you kill me?"

He joins in my laughter, but after a while hands me a mini orange highlighter.

"What's this?"

"You're bike."

"My bike?" I repeat incredulously.

He nods.

"Um. How do I get it out?"

He smiles, "Start running. And when you've gotten enough speed, uncap it and launch yourself in the air. It'll build around you."

"Uh. You sure?" I ask skeptically.

"Positive. But if you don't want to try, I can show you."

"No!" I hurriedly object. "It's my bike. You're not touching it."

I stick my tongue out at him good naturedly and start running. When I'm pretty sure I'm fast enough, I uncap it and leap like I was instructed to do. For a moment there, I just knew that I had made the worst mistake and I was going to slam into the ground, but suddenly there's something solid underneath me and I can only see the ground where it's flying underneath my tires.

"Alright!" I shout in excitement and pull the clutch before bumping it up a couple gears and rolling more on the throttle. Not too fast, of course. I didn't want to kill myself because I didn't have a helmet. I wasn't _that_ stupid. Finally, I came to a stop in front of Dion.

"That was awesome!" I exclaim and his eyes twinkle with laughter.

"Glad you like it. We should get back to camp now, before Chiron sends a search party out for us."

"Us? Are you not permitted to leave or something?" I teased.

He rolls his eyes. "Something. You want to ride back?"

"But this isn't a dual sport bike. It can't go anywhere other than road."

"And there is where you're wrong," He smiles, reaching to the key and turning it to a symbol I didn't recognize.

I feel the bike shift, and suddenly it's not a GSXR anymore, but a KTM Dual Sport (which is a total change of manufacturers, I know, but I've never really cared for the manufacturing "wars". If it's a good bike, it's a good bike) and a smile comes to my face.

"This is sweet," I say and then feel totally awkward because it had been three years since I'd ever called anything "sweet" and it made me feel like I was eleven or something.

"Yes, I guess it is. My half-brother Hephaestus made it for me. Of course, I wound up owing him because I had bet that he couldn't make it."

I laugh. "So you're bad at bets? That's good to know."

He throws me an irritated glance, but again, I can tell he's amused. "Well, I'll tell you this: you're not going to make any money off me."

"Suure," I smile before taking off towards the camp.

Yeah, this will be fun.

**Yoga! Wine! Motorcycle! Yaay! No, I don't support underage drinking. I'm underage and I don't drink. It's just that with Kyra, she doesn't really get "drunk". Wine and stuff like that enhances her... kinda like water and Percy; just to throw out an example. Hope you enjoyed and please don't drink until your of legal age! I can assure you that you _aren't_ going to be enhanced by it.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 6

"Hey Kyra!"

I turn to the voice with a smile. "What's up, Will?"

It was Friday, and I had learned most everyone's names and the classes and rules of the camp in five days. I had a new schedule (one that didn't include dance classes) and I liked it. Before breakfast, I did my own yoga, and then taught some to Connor who somehow _always_ wound up making me laugh until I cried. After breakfast, I worked on my Greek (the time varied) and then headed down to the forge to hang out with Kirsten, though Beckendorf did try to teach me some blacksmithing sometimes, all three of us always ended up sneaking off to go swimming, or cliff jumping depending on the feel. Lunch was a YOYO, so I usually stole some strawberries from the field and headed into the woods with Carlos, where I was working on manifesting different food items (so far, I had made only grapes and Lambrusco wine) and he would tell me a little more about being a magician. (Apparently, there weren't only Greek gods, but Egyptian ones too.) Afterwards, I worked in the fields with Castor and Pollux and eventually turned it into a wrestling match. Right now I was headed to the sword arena, where I got to hack stuffed dummies into pieces.

"Just came from archery practice. You ready for the game tonight?" The son of Apollo returns my smile.

I shrug, "I guess. I'm not all that certain about what I'll be doing. But I guess it won't be that hard."

"Of course not! It'll be fun," He assures as we stop by the armory to get swords for our next class. "It's just like a war version of capture the flag. And kinda dangerous. But it's fun!"

I laugh as we continue on our way. "If you say so."

"You know, I was just wondering. Percy says you were amazing at archery, but I never see you at the field."

I shrug again. "I guess I just don't want other people to think I'm like crazy special."

I had learned that demigods very rarely got to see their parents, and they usually didn't even listen to them, so I had already gained one enemy in Zeus' daughter, Thalia. But it's not like I _tried_ to be favored! It just, happened. Like one day, I was musing to Kirsten about how it never rained and that I actually liked rain, and it (gasp!) began to rain. Of course, I'm still puzzling over how someone who had once tried to kill me, (well, Carlos, but _I_ was the one who almost died) could suddenly like me so much as to ignore the magical barriers and send water down because I had commented on it. Hmmm.

And, actually, I had been down to the archery range (or the field, as some campers called it) at night, but I really didn't want to bring that up because I usually met up with Apollo who was still puzzling over what I was Graced with. Yeah, that might upset Will. Not only that reason, but if I _did_ tell anyone, I was sure that suddenly I'd have a few more companions than I wanted.

"That makes sense. I'd still like to see you shoot sometime. I know Chiron does too."

I laugh at this, "I think Chiron just wants a good reason to keep me in this camp."

Unfortunately, Dion was right and I drove Chiron crazy every day. Connor had once commented that he and Travis weren't getting in as much trouble because all Chiron's attention was diverted to me.

"Kyra, you're late," Percy scolds.

I smile sweetly. "I am not, thank you very much. You were just early."

He rolls his eyes, but can't help but smile. "Sure."

I nod and take my place in between Kirsten and Travis as Percy begins teaching. He was a good swordsman; some would say he was the best in camp. I didn't agree. He was only the best when he was wet. Just like I was only almost the best when I was drunk. (But don't tell Chiron.)

In all actuality, I think if I was completely drunk, and he was completely wet, I would win. Of course, that might not be true. But then again…

"Kyra, you're not paying attention."

My eyes flew back to Percy's from where they were contemplating the water jug.

"Sorry."

"Are you thirsty?" A wicked grin was spreading across his face and I took a step back.

"Not for water," I remark.

"Too bad!" He yells, and the next thing I know, all the water is thrown at me and I feel a need to shriek and jump towards him.

Somehow, I had dodged the first attempt at soaking me, but soon the water was pounding against my back. The plus side to it was that it got Percy wet too. I start laughing and I feel his chest vibrate with surprised laughter and I'm startled to find that I was pressed tightly against him in an attempt to get away from his attack. I pry my arm away from him and push him down. It takes more force than I thought it would. Were we actually _stuck_ together?

"That was _not_ nice!" I yell at him with a smile, but he can't stop laughing to catch his breath enough to reply. "Stop laughing!"

He doesn't head my threat, so I stick my sword under his chin.

"Stop."

He does, but can't rid his face of the smile.

"Well, class, what have we learned from this?"

We both turn to see Chiron standing there with his arms folded and (gasp) a _smile_ on his lips.

"That Kyra's real fast."

"Not to get her angry."

I rolled my eyes at Kirsten and Travis' answers.

"You can defeat your enemy by making them laugh," Someone, I think named Hunter, commented.

"Pay attention in class."

"Hey! I _was_ paying attention!" I argue with Percy.

"What_ever_," He answers, standing up.

I slash my sword at him and he barely counters it, but I follow it with a backhand, twisting my blade past his and pressing it to his pulse.

"You sure?"

"Oh. You _were_ paying attention," He replies, clearly surprised.

Actually, I wasn't, but I'm not about to let him know that. I just did the first move that came to mind.

"Seeing as she's already learned the lesson, do you mind if I steal Kyra for the rest of class?"

"No, she's all yours," He gladly obliges Chiron.

I shoot Kirsten and Travis joking "AAHHH!" glances before following him and I realize we're going down to the archery range.

"You wanna watch me shoot?" I question.

"Partially. You've been seeing Apollo at night. You know that's against camp rules."

"Which one? Apollo or night?"

He almost rolled his eyes. "We have a curfew. I can't control who Apollo sees, although if I could, he wouldn't be seeing you."

"Oh, but he's helping me with my Grace!" I object.

"He can do that at a different time."

"Not really."

"How so?"

"He's driving the sun all day," I rationalize. "And my mornings are already full."

Annoyance comes to his eyes, telling me that I'm right.

"Fine, but you can't stay out more than an hour after curfew. And what do you do in the mornings?"

"Uh," That was probably against the curfew rule too. "Yoga. Meditation. It's just me, though."

"Where?"

"Uh, the East cliff."

He nods and I'm relieved that that's not off-limits. "Now, I want to see you shoot."

He hands me a bow and I look at him in skepticism. I could barely make out the target from this range.

"From here?"

He laughs. "You wouldn't make it, that bow doesn't have that kind of power."

"Well," I smile, "do you have one that'll shoot that far?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," He answers curiously. "But I doubt you're that good."

What a show of confidence.

"Can I try?"

"It won't hurt anything," He shrugs, and gives me one that I had never seen him without. "Just be careful with it."

"Of course," I assure, knocking an arrow.

I take deep breaths and focus all my energy on getting this arrow into that small blur of a target.

Three seconds after I let it go, Chiron can only stare dumbfounded at me.

"That's impossible."

He then takes off, galloping towards the target and I run to catch up, arriving shortly after him.

"Amazing," He says, looking from the bulls-eye to me. "How did you do it?"

"Concentration?" I say uncertainly.

"That's it!" I twirl around at the excited exclamation and Apollo grabs my arms. "There's no way you could've gotten that shot unless you could manipulate its path!"

"Uh, that's great," I say, still startled at his sudden appearance. "So I can… no, I don't get it. Explain?"

He laughs and pulls me into a hug, like he does always at the most random of moments.

"You can manipulate things. Make them do things they wouldn't usually do. For instance, Percy wouldn't usually say what he's thinking around D, because it's probably something that would irritate D. But he did and, though he _did_ irritate D, you made him say it."

"Have you been stalking me?" I say, pulling back slightly and he laughs again.

"It's common knowledge."

"Well, I'll leave you two to discuss this," Chiron comments, still perplexed on how I made the shot. "Although I do expect to hear what the end verdict is."

I hand him his bow and watch as he trots off.

"Okay, run that by me one more time," I say, stepping out of the embrace.

"You," Apollo starts slowly with hand motions and a mischievous smile, "Can. Manipulate. Objects. And people. You can change their thoughts and cause them to say things, it's just amazing."

"Oh, that's… interesting. Are you sure?"

"Yes," He hugs me again, this time picking me up and spinning me around.

I cry out in surprise and end up laughing until he puts me back down.

Then I hit him.

"Don't do that again!"

"Awe, you know you liked it," He teased.

I stick my tongue out at him and jerk away when he attempts to grab it.

"Then I should be able to make things move and everything, right?"

"Yeah," He replies.

"Can I manipulate you?"

"I think you already are," He winks.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too! See? I would've already won this argument if you weren't."

"So not true."

"It is!"

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh!"

"Shut up."

"No way."

"Yes way!"

I growl threateningly, but he just laughs.

"You're adorable."

"You're absurd."

"I love it when you say that."

"Absurd?"

"Ugh, yes. It's so sexy."

"Shut up," I push him again.

"No way."

"Yes way!"

"No," He whispered into my ear, giving it a nibble.

I shy away from him. "Don't do that."

"You know you like it."

"No I don't!"

"You do."

"No."

"Yes, stop lying to yourself."

"You know what? You're cocky. Too cocky for your own good."

"Say that again," His smile teases.

"No."

"Pleease?"

"Will you shut up?"

"Uh, no."

"Then I won't."

"Ugh, fine."

"You. Are," I got closer and practically said the last word into his mouth. "Cocky."

His smile brushes against my lips.

"Perfect."

"Is this what always happens when he comes to visit you?"

I jump back, and put my hand to my chest in surprise.

"Geez, Chiron, you almost gave me a heart attack! I thought you were gone!"

"I was, but then D ordered me to come back and "oversee" your activities."

"Wow. Talk about overprotective parent," I muse to myself and Apollo laughs.

"There's really no reason to worry, Chiron."

"Mhmm."

He doesn't buy it. I guess he's just known Apollo for too long.

"It's okay. I mean at least Dion isn't supervising. It could be much worse."

Chiron tilts his head to the side, not sure if he should be offended by this or not.

"True," Apollo agrees and then hugs me again.

"Would it kill you to not hug me every two seconds?" I pull away from him joking.

"Uh, yeah!" He says it like that's the most obvious statement anyone's ever said.

"You're lying."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are. Too."

His lips quirk upward and suddenly he's tackling me onto the ground.

"Po!" I scream as I fall and he starts tickling me. "Get off me!"

He laughs, "You know you like it, Ky," And doesn't stop.

All my efforts to get away are fruitless, so I finally just give up.

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be supervising!" I shout to Chiron through a fit of laughter.

"Oh? I was under the impression that you didn't want me to supervise," His eyes laugh and I roll mine at him.

"Whatever," I mutter and start playing offense in the tickle war.

Soon (and without anyone's help, I might add) I've effectively turned the tide on the mischievous god and had him pinned down.

"Mercy!" He cries and I see tears forming.

"What? Is it too much, Po?" I reply evilly.

"Yes! Please, Ky, mercy!"

I laugh at him and stand up. "You should probably get out of here."

"But I just got here!" He objects, brushing the dirt and grass off him.

"Aaand? It's almost time for capture the flag. Aren't you supposed to be driving the sun or something?"

He rolls his eyes. "I put it on autopilot."

"The sun has an autopilot?" I ask with laughter.

"Yeah, it makes it easier for me," He replies, wrapping his arms around me once again.

"Whatever. Go," I command, spinning out of his embrace.

"I will on one condition," He crosses his arms.

"And that would be?"

"You dance for me tonight."

"You suck," I glare at him. "Fine. Just be on time."

"Yes Ma'am," He says with a satisfied smile and a mock salute before he turns and a flash of light takes him.

No, I didn't look at it. You think I'm stupid? Okay, well I might be… just a little mind you.

"He certainly liked you."

I shrug with a smile. "He's an idiot."

Chiron thinks this over. "In some aspects, yes, but don't underestimate him."

"I won't," I say. "When does the game start?"

"Fifteen minutes," He replies. "If I were you, I'd head over to the armory. Get a sword and a bow, they'll give you armor. I believe you're on the blue team."

"Oh, okay," I nod to him and start to the armory.

"Oh, and Kyra," I turn around, "If you're Grace of manipulation is as powerful as Apollo seems to think, we might not let you play."

I nod slowly, "Okay."

"One more thing. If I find your drunk, you won't play either."

I smile. "Got it."

I wonder if he knew that I was partially drunk now. No, I didn't think so.

Was I going to be drunk for this game?

Oh yeah.

Was he going to be able to tell?

Nope!

So it was with a satisfied smile that I picked out my sword and bow when suddenly something caught my eye. I was immediately attracted to the gleam of the matching dual blades. They were either long knives or short swords, I wasn't quite sure. When I picked them up, they felt natural in my hands and I performed a couple experimental swings and couldn't keep the smile off my face. They were perfect.

"Oh, hey! Kyra, what did Chiron want to talk to you about?" Percy appears and inquires as I search for some sheaths.

I shrug, checking the fit on some black and gold leather ones. "Wanted to see me shoot."

"Good," He nods, clapping his fist and snapping a couple times, while perusing through the weapons.

"You looking for something in particular?" I look at him with a questioning eyebrow raise after putting the blades away to the side as I turned to armor.

"Oh, uh, no, I guess not," He smiles as I go through breastplates. "Here, this one should fit."

"Thanks," I slip it over my head and he helps tie it at the sides.

"Percy?" I turn to see a pretty blonde girl standing in the doorway.

"Oh, uh, hi Annabeth," Percy tries to smile. "When'd you get here?"

"A few minutes ago," She answers, crossing her arms and looking at me almost icily. "And you are?"

I smile, trying to be friendly. "Kyra, from Cabin Twelve. Percy was helping me get ready for the game because it's my first time."

"I see."

A silence comes and I turn back to somehow attach the sheaths to my waist and move the sword to my back.

"I guess I'll see you around, Seaweed Brain."

I glanced over my shoulder with a knowing grin when I'm sure she's out of hearing range.

"She so likes you."

"Uh, no, she kinda hates me."

I roll my eyes. "You're kidding. You can't see the way her eyes were glowing green? It was like she had caught us making out or something."

He laughs nervously, "Oh yeah? Well… we weren't."

I laugh and shake my head. "No, we weren't. I know that, you know that, everyone knows that."

"E-everyone?" That laugh comes again and he runs his hand through his hair.

"Is that a problem? Do you want people to think we're making out?"

"No! No. I mean, it'd be cool I guess… oh gods, did I say that aloud? Not that I want to, I mean I wouldn't mind but… No!" He slaps his forehead. "Just kill me now. Please?"

I laugh and punch his arm. "I think I'll just let Annabeth do that. Or any of your other many "enemies"."

"I'd prefer if it were you," He murmurs and I'm not sure if I was supposed to hear it.

"You sure I have this on right? It just feels odd wearing jeans and a t-shirt," His eyes widen and skim over me and I find myself laughing. "No! I'm not taking them off. Maybe I should just stop talking. Or letting you talk."

"Maybe. You could wear a dress, it'd go with your Amazon theme."

"Sounds good."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"No. I'll just survive with this."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay," He shrugs, fingering a dagger.

"Should I get arm guards?"

"Sure," He gives me some. "You need some help with them?"

"Better not."

"Um… I'm confused."

"Whatever, yes I want help."

He grins and laces them up comfortably tight. "There you go."

"Thanks," I reply, drawing my arm from his grasp.

"Yeah. We should probably get going. Oh! You'll need a helmet."

"Seriously? Ew, no," I wrinkled my nose at the bright blue plume extending out the top. "I am _not_ wearing that!"

"Come on, now, don't go all Aphrodite on me!"

"I'm not! I'm using my good sense and it tells me that this is terribly unsophisticated."

"You have to," He explains.

"Why?"

"Because it's the rules…?" He guesses shrugging with a smile.

"Whatever. Isn't there any other way I could identify myself?"

"Well… you could wear blue, but then you couldn't hide that well."

I smile and rush from the room and he runs to catch up with me.

"Hey! Where're you going?"

I don't reply, suddenly finding myself in my cabin as I had wanted. Shrugging off the reason I got here so fast, I quickly search through my things.

"You looking for something, Chica?"

"Face paint. I could've sworn I had some," I answer, and Carlos replies by reaching his hand into thin air (or the Duat, as he calls it) and bringing some out of various shades. "Let me guess, blue?"

"That's right," I grab it from his hand and move to a mirror.

Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I paint my long bangs blue and twisted them up into a bump. After which, I drew some sort of symbol on my forehead (I don't know what it was, it just looked cool) and then curled around my eyes widely, ending on my cheek bones. I looked like something from that King Arthur movie. Another slash over my jaw and then a different one horizontally over my lips completed the look.

Chiron would not approve.

Oh well.

Carlos whistled, "You look good, Chica. Double blades, huh? I knew someone who fought with them, an Egyptian deity actually. Of course, I'm sure you have plenty of those in this world too."

I smile, adjusting the bow string across my chest that kept the bow where it went over the sword. "Thanks Carlos. Are you fighting too?"

"I guess so. Clarisse asked me to be on their team."

"Clarisse?" I raise an eyebrow, this was an interesting twist.

"Yeah, so I guess we'll be fighting against each other for once Chica."

"For once?"

"Well yeah, this time I won't let you have the advantage," He teases and I punch him.

"Whatever. Let's just go."

So we went sharing a canteen of never ending wine. Of course I had to cut him off before he got drunk, wouldn't do for him to be running around throwing spells on people.

"Watch yourself out there, Mixed Breed," Clarisse snarls as she comes over to bring Carlos to her side.

"I'll do my best," I smile charmingly and her eyes narrow even more.

"See ya, Chica," Carlos calls back and I nod before jogging over to my side and realizing we were late.

"Kyra, where have you been?" Percy exclaims, and then he stops as his eyes take delight in my painting.

"I didn't think we were starting so soon," I confess. "I'm sorry. Do we have a game plan yet?"

"Uh, yeah," He nods after a second. "New campers are basically always decoys. You'll be going around to the right of the flag with Jaylee and Connor."

"Sounds good, any rules I should know about?"

"Well, obviously no killing. Or maiming. Small injuries are normal. Bruises and cuts are expected, honestly we can get away with broken bones sometimes."

"Hmm, sounds fun," I smile.

"Yep," He agrees, looking off into the distance and pulling his sword. "The horns about to sound, you better get with your group."

"Okay," I nod and head over to Connor.

"Niice," He immediately approves of my blue as I knew he would.

"Thanks," I smile, "just gotta make sure that Chiron doesn't see."

He laughs and Jaylee looks a bit envious that she didn't think of it. It must've been horrible for a daughter of Aphrodite to wear something like that. I smile understandingly and pull the remaining paint from my belt.

"Here," I remove her helmet and paint a striking design across her face before turning and doing the same to Connor. "Perfect. Now we're a team."

He laughs and touches his forehead carefully, "Okay Jaylee, tell me the truth. Did she just write "loser" over my forehead?"

I roll my eyes and punch him just as a horn sounds.

"Oh, we're on," He grins, tugging his sword out of the sheath and I do the same while Jaylee readies her bow.

We jog out over a creek and a shiver of anticipation runs up my spine. This should be fun. We don't meet much opposition, but when we do, it's taken care of easily and humanely, with a couple flicks of the wrist on Connor or my part; Jaylee was our scout.

I can't help but musing about our part as the diversion. Weren't we supposed to be getting the attention?

"They're not falling for it," I murmur to Connor and he nods in agreement.

"You know what that means?" His eyes twinkle. "We get the flag."

I laugh quietly, "Sounds good to me."

Jaylee reappears. "It's clear, there's only one guard."

"You ready?" I ask her.

"I'll just be the lookout," She suggests carefully.

I nod, "Good idea. Warn us if there're any reinforcements coming."

She nods and we venture nearer.

"I was wondering when you were gonna get here, Chica."

"Carlos? You've gotta be kidding me."

"Afraid not, now I guess I gotta take you as a hostage."

"Oh yeah?" I put my hands on my hips. "And who says I'm gonna let you?"

He smiles and whips out a curved blade, lunging quickly and skillfully and I feel like strangling him for not telling me about this secret life he and Diego had lived right under my nose again. I twist to the side, drawing my blades and hitting the hilt against the back of his neck.

"Ow," He rolls away, rubbing his neck. "Where you learn that, Chica?"

"Are you kidding? I was born to do this," I joke, trying to keep his attention away from my partner in flag crime.

He laughs, "Sure."

Pulling out a wand from some hidden place, he speaks a few words that are most likely Egyptian. I didn't really expect him to be speaking Turkish or Iranian or something like that, so it was a highly probable guess. Something crumbles behind me and I whip around to see something that could be called a rock monster.

I cock my head, "Okay then."

Dodging its attacks is easy, if I stay close. It's cumbersome movements made it easy for me to tangle itself up, but, unfortunately, it couldn't really get tangled up. So, as any sane person wouldn't do, I begin climbing it.

"You scared to take me on yourself?" I jeer at Carlos, while hanging on tightly.

"Nah, I just don't want to hurt you," He flashes me a grin.

"Chicken!"

"Whatever, you asked for it," He shakes his head and says a few commands that stills the mountain of rock.

Flipping down (yes I still remembered the few years of gymnastics I took) I smile and he lunges again, taking care not to give me any openings. Whenever I barely dodge a strike or parry just in time I feel like I'm in the Matrix. Yeah, this definitely needs some electric sorta music. Somehow, he twists the hilt of his sword and there are two of them. He slices them across my abdomen, but only scrapes the metal protection as I vault off his shoulders. Kicking his back, he lands on his face and I cross my blades over his shoulders. Grabbing one of my five or so arrows, I stabbed it into his shirt and through the ground. He manages to yell a few words before I find something to stuff his face with. The crumbling starts again and I turn to the annoying monstrosity. With a flash of foolish inspiration, I somehow find Carlos' wand and hold it out towards the creature.

My mind searches for a word. I need some sorta destruction spell. Come on, I _know_ Carlos told me this!

_"Ha-di!"_

I yell and suddenly, the rocks blow apart like an explosive charge was set inside them. Hmmm, I'll have to remember this trick.

"Run!" I yell to Connor, who was standing there just gaping at the giant dynamite explosion.

He does and I take off after him, leaving Carlos still on the ground. After we sprint over the creek and the horn sounds again, he doubles over laughing.

"That was _awesome_!" He says, punching my shoulder lightly.

"How did you do that?" Jaylee exclaims as she runs up to me. "I saw this giant rock thing and it just exploded when you said something!"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we got the flag!" I grin, holding up the blazing red trophy.

After a few moments, members of my team smother me in high fives and "Awesome!"s. Then Chiron approached me, walking with a Carlos who looked near to passing out.

"Kyra, we need to talk."

Uh-oh.

**Okay, first things first, I absolutely _love_ writing the dialogue between Kyra and Apollo! XD It's so fun and argumentative... anywho, enjoy the life you live! And have a great second/minute/hour/day/week/month/year/decade/century/ex...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hiya =) How you doin? Yay! Sooo, yeah... have fun reading (I do hope you enjoy the bit of poetry I put in... yes I did write that... no I didn't write the song... I just tweaked it... don't freak) :) (Ah! Smiley face! XD sorry.. little hyper... I'll leave now...)**

"What I'm trying to say is that it's impossible for you to use Egyptian magic."

"But I did," I reply, just as puzzled as Carlos who's pacing quickly across the room.

"I know. But it's impossible!"

"Obviously it isn't," Dion comments dryly, pouring another glass of wine for himself.

"Maybe it wasn't her," Chiron suggests.

"It was. But it couldn't have been. It's impossible!"

"I think we've gotten the point."

I nod, agreeing with Dion. "So it was impossible. But I did it. Maybe Apollo would have an idea."

Chiron snaps his fingers. "Manipulation. You found out your Grace, then you yelled that word and you manipulated the rocks to explode at the exact moment."

"That's it!" Carlos immediately grasps the idea. "It has to be it."

I nod, but somehow I'm still not convinced that that's what happened. Oh well.

"If that's it, am I free to go?"

"Yes, Chiron, go with her."

I glare at Dion. "I don't need a babysitter."

"No, but you need a chaperone."

I close my eyes in horror. "Please. No. Don't. I don't need a chaperone!"

"Maybe not, but Apollo does."

I groan. "I'll keep him in line. I know I can."

"D, you're daughter is more than capable of handling him."

"Fine."

I smile my thanks to Chiron (maybe he's not that bad) and turn to leave.

"Kyra," Chiron's voice stops me and I glance back. "One hour, that's all. And this is your last meeting."

I roll my eyes, "Okay."

"And no more capture the flag."

I nod and quickly exit the house, heading to the archery range before he decided to give me more instructions. I had to admit, though, no capture the flag wasn't breaking my heart.

"There you are. I almost decided to come and find you."

I punch Apollo's arm. "Just be grateful I'm here. I've only got an hour."

"Only an hour?" With shoulders slumped, his eyes pleaded me to say different.

I laughed and hit his shoulder. "Don't give me that! You know Chiron is being more than fair! We've already found out what my Grace is, so there's really no reason for him to let me come out here anymore. It's our last night."

He got a dramatic look on his face as he gazed longingly into the distance. "Our last night. The last time I shall ever gaze upon such fair beauty.

"Stolen away twas my love, by a father and a brother.

"Ne'er seen again twas my love, yet my heart yearns for no other.

"Forever will I keep the memory of her joy in my mind,

"For one day my pure, sweet love again might I find.

"That I may once again be allowed to hold my sweet lover,

"And steal her away, from a father, a brother."

"Wow," I smile softly and he turns back to me with a grin, putting his arm around my waist. "Did you just make that up?"

"Yes," He shrugs, grabbing my hand and holding it up. "And you owe me a dance."

I giggle. "You ballroom?"

"I do indeed," He winks and nods as he begins leading me through a series of familiar Viennese waltz steps.

"I would never have guessed."

"Oh trust me, there is a lot more to me than meets the eye," He says in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Is there?" I whisper back just before he spins me and switches the dance slightly so that my back is to his chest.

"It would take many lifetimes to completely discover me," His lips brush against my ear, causing me to shiver slightly.

He twirls me out, spinning me back and dipping me down low smoothly.

I catch his neck, staring daringly into his eyes as one of my fingers trails down his cheeks.

"I accept the challenge."

His eyes brighten and he laughs. "No one's ever completed it."

"Well maybe," I spin out of his arms and onto the ground, still holding his hand. "Maybe I will be the first."

"Maybe you will."

Something flashed through his eyes like inspiration, or a dream and he kneels down beside me. His eyes are earnest and something is begging to be said. He opens his mouth to let it but suddenly shakes his head and laughs almost bitterly.

"What? What is it?" I ask, smiling.

He groans, sitting back on his butt and holding his hands across his knees. "I keep forgetting how young you are."

I laugh. "Is that all?"

His gaze rolls over to mine and then away. "No."

"Come on," I poke him. "You can tell me."

"Your dad would kill me…?"

"That's not it," I roll my eyes. "I know you don't care what Dion thinks."

"I care more than I let on," He shrugs.

I sigh, leaning against him and hear him echo it.

"You're going to tell me someday," I whisper, ducking under his arm and encircling his waist with mine.

"Tell you what?" He asks, amused (though I see right through his game) as he shifts to get his arms around me, tucking my head under his chin.

"What you were going to say when your eyes got so passionate."

He laughs and I hear a wee bit of nervousness poking through. "Passionate? Never! That didn't happen. Nor will I tell you what I was really thinking because I already did."

"You're just trying to confuse me now."

"Yes, that is correct."

"It won't work."

"Yes it will."

"No it won't."

"Tonight it will."

"Forget it."

"It's already working."

"Nu-huh!"

"Ya-huh."

"You were going to ask me a question."

"Was I?" He grinned broadly. "Oh look, I just did."

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? Oh! There was another one!"

I turn so I can glare at him. "You're wasting our hour."

"Our hour has already passed dear one."

"It has?"

He smiles sadly and shrugs. "Tis unfortunate."

"Why do you keep talking in Middle English?"

"Because it twas a highly romantic period, full of poetry speaking of death and life, love and hate, jealousy and heroism, anything you can imagine."

I sigh with a slightly mischievous smile. "I keep forgetting how old you are."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not _that_ old."

My eyebrow goes up and he repeats the action.

"Come on Kyra. You know it's different with us immortals."

"Of course I do," I smile sweetly. "You're all really old!"

"Uugh! I'm not old!"

"I know. You're ancient."

"No! Do I look old to you?"

I study him closely. "Weeelll, you are getting a few wrinkles around the forehead area."

"You're making that up."

"It's a possibility."

"I'm not that old," He finishes quietly.

"And I'm not that young," I counter.

"You're not even fifteen!"

"And you're over fifteen million!"

Okay, yes, I'll admit, that was an exaggeration. I think. I _hope_.

He rolls his eyes, putting his forehead against mine. "That's an exaggeration."

I laugh. "Good."

A confused look appears over his features. "Why does it matter? I mean, I'd still look the same."

I shrug. "It doesn't! I'm just agreeing with you."

His eyes roll again. "You're not supposed to agree with me!"

"Whatever," My eyes mirror his.

So _maybe_ I'd had a couple dreams about a very shirtless, very smexy Apollo and the whole idea of him being fifteen million would just ruin my subconscious.

"You afraid it'll ruin your dreams?" He teases, probably having picked up a stray thought or something.

I try to hide the blush but am pretty sure I fail. Being friends with this god really sucked sometimes. "Uh, no. Definitely not."

"Oh, come on," The mischievous sparkle lights up his face. "I _knoooooww_ you dream about me."

"Nooo, I don't," I insist, then pause. "Wait… how would _you_ know what I dream?"

He grins. "Because I sent them. Aaand because dreams… prophecies… visions… they're kinda my thing."

I groan and pull away from him, hugging my knees to my chest. I should've known. Seriously, didn't immortals have anything better to do than mess with our lives?

He got up to a kneeling position, then tediously wrapped his arms around all of me as if he expected me to vanish into thin air any moment.

"Ky, don't be upset," He says softly, apologetically. "I didn't mean to make you mad. I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, I didn't really send the dreams. I just presented the idea and let you take it where you wanted."

I shrugged. "It's no big deal."

I could feel his grin warming me. "Good. I have to say, I was very happy with where you took it."

"What? I thought you said you didn't really know what I dreamed!" I turn my head towards him, glaring slightly.

He winced. "I didn't say _that_. See, I gave you the idea, then later, when I went to sleep, the dream came to me too. I think I unintentionally linked our dreams."

I stared at him for a few seconds. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"No?" His eyes beg me not to slap him.

I shake my head at him. "You're an idiot."

I hear him sigh, probably in relief and lean his head against my back. Then, he looked up, moved my hair and started kissing the base of my neck. The small of my back contracted and sizzled when he trailed two fingers against my spine

"A-Apollo?" I stutter, my back arching. "Wha-what are you doing?"

He doesn't answer, but moves so that his lips have more to explore along my jaw line.

"N-no, Apollo, no. You can't-you can't do this," I object, trying to brush his lips away with my hand. "You said it yourself, I-I'm really young. So…so I can't do this."

He sighs again, but this time in defeat and stops. "I'm sorry."

Swallowing, I shrug the matter off as I stand.

"I should get going."

He stands also, giving me a hesitant smiling. "You're right."

I grin. "I know."

He rolls his eyes, but I'm grateful we managed to clear that hurdle. I hug him and turn to go, but his arm stops me.

"Wait, can I at least have a goodnight kiss? It _is_ the last time I know that we'll see each other," His usual mischievous twinkle was back in his eyes and I laugh, holding out my hand.

His eyes roll again, but he grins, goes down on one knee and takes my hand in his, opening it up to place a kiss on the palm. Then he closes it and touches his lips to the delicate veins on my wrist. I smile, take back my hand and brush my lips over the place his touched and his eyes brighten.

"Goodnight, Apollo."

I then turn and walk away, humming Sweet Dreams by Patsy Cline softly.

Yes, I am aware that this is a song with a melancholy feel, but just for that night, the lyrics rearranged themselves in my head and everything was right.

Sweet dreams of you

Every night I go through

Why don't I forget you and start my life anew?

Instead of having sweet dreams about you

You shouldn't love me, it's plain

I know, I might never wear your ring

Maybe I should hate you the whole night through

Instead of having sweet dreams about you

Sweet dreams of you

Things I know won't come true

Why don't I forget the past, start loving someone new?

Instead of having sweet dreams about you


	7. Chapter 7

**First off- thanks for any of you who have reviewed and/or favorited :D you make my day! Everyday! or every other day... Secondly- Please, please, please don't kill me! I know it's been a millennia since I last updated, but things come and get in the way and junk happens... So, hope you enjoy this and put away your pitchforks and such before you get thrown in jail for murder...**

"Will, can you hand me that sword?"

"Why don't you manipulate it to you?" His grin is teasing; rumors about my Grace had grown abundantly.

Two months later, it was now November and Carlos had been requested to leave (they still held a grudge against him because he was Egyptian). I knew I could go home too, because most of the campers had gone, but my mom was suspiciously eager for me to stay. Dion said it was probably for safety reasons (which made sense because I had never gotten that protective spell renewed), but I wasn't totally convinced.

I roll my eyes. "You _know_ it doesn't work like that."

Since finding it, my Grace had shown me that not everything was possible and it didn't work every time I wanted it to. The only thing I could rely on to never fail was manipulating distance, and even then it always cost me. Chiron wanted to believe it would work in life and death instances, but I can't say I do. I think it's got a mind of its own and it doesn't care if I die.

I could be wrong, but I've never really been close to dying since I, well, almost died so I can't really judge.

He picks it up and tosses it to me. I catch it at the hilt and nod my thanks before running up a hill. I can tell he is oblivious to what I'm doing and knows I'm obviously crazy because I agree with him.

You know that feeling you get when you walk in a room and suddenly forget why you're there? Well it hit me right between the eyes when I got to the top of the hill.

I think I might have even winced.

Why was I up here, and why did I have a sword?

After struggling with this issue for some time, I finally shrug and sit down. It didn't really matter. I guess.

"Kyra," A silvery voice whispers on the wind making shivers go up my spine.

"Wha-what?" I answer, my voice shaking as I grip the sword, hoping I wouldn't have to use it. "Who-what-who's there?"

Okay so I couldn't decide if it was a "Who" or a "What", give me a break! It's a creepy voice coming from nowhere!

The voice laughs. "You know who I am. You do bear my mark after all."

Right now, my spine is definitely under attack of little electric charges and suddenly, a bright flash burns before my eyes and I'm left seeing stars and little black dots that I name Sally, Jellyband, Armand, Marguerite, Chauvelin, Suzanne, Antony, Andrew, Comtesse… whoa! Got off track for a second there. And into the land of _The Scarlet Pimpernel_. Just then, strange things came into my head.

Icicle.

Raspberry.

Yum.

Fluffy.

Green.

Black.

Cat?

Aah!

I scramble back when I realize that there is actually a cat/person thingy in front of my very eyes! It, well I guess it was a "she", seemed to be laughing, though I couldn't really tell because, well, cats don't really have emotional eyes.

Do they even have emotions?

"Uuuhhh… Hi? What are you doing here? Who are you? Should I kill you? Are you gonna kill me?"

She laughs, tilting her head to the side and her bright green eyes sparkled. Shaking her head, her chin-length black hair swung and shimmered.

Which was really weird.

But I'd have to say that her ears were, in fact, weirder. They were definitely cat ears; black and silky and twitching like she was picking out different sounds around her.

"My name is Bast."

Yeah. That clears up everything! Please note my sarcasm… waaiiiittt… it _does_ clear up everything!

Carlos told me about this goddess! Bast was the cat goddess (hence the cat eyes and ears) of pleasure! And then I looked at my soul finger.

There it was!

Her sign!

Well… I also had a cat eye.

Was that hers too?

"Uh. Cool. Nice to meet you."

She smiles holding out her hand for me to take. "I want to talk to you about some things. But we can't do it here. I'm not welcome."

She lowers her eyes as she remembers that this isn't her home ground and waits as I stare slack-jawed at her.

*Enter preferred exclamation here*! She was so to-die-for gorgeous… whoa! Did I really just think that?

I'm not lesbian. Please believe me?

Finally I shut my mouth and take her hand. "Where are we going?"

She smiles again, and I think her eyes are laughing. "Just for a little trip through the Duat."

"What? Wait-!" I don't get to finish because I'm pulled through something odd and purplish and appear somewhere that I'm gonna guess wasn't too far away.

Central Park?

"So."

A smile twitched across her lips. "You know I have chosen you."

"Yeah. For what?"

"I picked you," She begins walking me around the park, "to be my priestess, just as your mother was."

"Huh?"

That silvery laugh comes again. "Your mother is my priestess, that's how she met Diego. So, if she hadn't have been, you wouldn't have any of them."

"I would have my mom."

"In a way. But not as she is now."

"Oh."

"She's Graced too, you know."

"No, I didn't know. But don't Gracelings have two different eyes?"

"She keeps her blue eye covered with mist at all times."

"Oh."

"You are taking this much better than I expected."

"Would you prefer if I was having a panic attack? Because I can arrange that," I reply sarcastically and she laughs again.

"I was wise to choose you, Kyra," Her eyes were twinkling. I think.

"Sooo, what does a priestess do?"

She shrugged. "Not that much, actually. You need to be trained in the art of the sword, which is why it's convenient for me to pick Greek half-bloods. And there are a few other things you must learn. Other than that, you just need to be ready if I call you into battle or to go on a mission for me."

"Oohkay, but don't Greek gods get upset when you take their daughters? I thought there was a feud or something…"

"Well, yes," She nods understandingly. "Some of them _do_ get upset, but… I make sure it's beneficial for them too."

I'm almost scared to ask how.

"Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot! You'll have to be trained how to use your cat."

"My cat?"

She nods mischievously. "All in good time, Kyra."

We walk in silence for a while.

"So, uh, why did you choose me?"

"Because of your qualities. My priestess' must be beautiful enough to cause emperors to fall and wise enough to choose the correct one. Though you do not have all this knowledge yet, you have the capability to gain it all. All of them are Graced with special abilities, though for some it comes later in life and their fatal flaw is just like mine."

"Gods have fatal flaws?" I raise my eyebrows in disbelief.

"Of course! We couldn't relate to mortals if we didn't," She smiles knowingly.

"What's yours?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"You know when you say that you actually mean "late enough"," I complain and am rewarded by another laugh.

"Maybe so. I hadn't thought of it that way. But now, it's time to get you back."

And with that, we're thrown through more purple and wind up back on the hill.

"When will I see you again?" I ask, almost wistfully.

"Three days from now. We'll begin training then, so bring those two blades you found in September."

"Wha-?" But she disappeared before I could finish.

Okay?

...

"I hate her! Gods I hate her so much I could just- I could just-!" The beautiful blonde woman screams in frustration, flinging a vase across the room where it crashes into smaller pieces.

"Come on, Aphrodite, that was my favorite vase! You're getting me another one!"

"What makes you think that I care about your stupid vase?! This _girl,_ this _mutant_, is ruining my life!"

Nemesis rolls her eyes, tiring of Aphrodite's endless ranting quickly. There was always another girl. Right then, colorful curses were flying from her mouth, making her appear (if it was possible) almost unattractive.

"Well? Go talk to Zeus. How many girls have you convinced him to kill for you? Millions right?"

"That's just it! Zeus _loves_ this new demi!"

Nemesis just laughs. Aphrodite had never been the brightest. "Then you go to Hera!"

"Not like thaaaat," The goddess of love draws out, huffing. "_Everyone_ thinks she's the greatest thing that's happened! And just because she can do a couple pretty tricks."

"Really?" The other goddess feigns interest.

"Yes! It's unbelievable! They even got a prophecy lined up for her."

"Aphrodite, prophecies don't work like that."

"Well. This one does!" She replies indignantly. "She's even got Apollo wrapped around her finger! And you _know_ Apollo never stays with one girl for more than three days."

"Okay, I give in, who is this girl?"

"See for yourself," Aphrodite points in disgust to a shallow bowl filled with olive oil.

"You're spying on her?"

"Checking out the competition!" She defends herself quickly.

Nemesis shakes her head and looks into the bowl. The girl was quite beautiful. Not near as beautiful as Aphrodite thought she was, though. Then the goddess caught a glimpse of her dual-colored eyes.

"Kyra? You're jealous of Dionysus' daughter?" She couldn't help but laugh. "This _has_ to be a first!"

"You don't _understaaaand_, Nemesis!" Aphrodite whined. "You _haaave_ to help me!"

"What do you want me to do? Hang her?" Nemesis joked.

"Yes!"

The goddess of revenge immediately shook her head. "No. I won't do that. I have nothing against this girl!"

"But I do! Pleeeeaaase Nemesis! What would you do in my situation?"

"Well," She _did_ love getting revenge on someone, even if the target had done nothing wrong, "what do you not like about her?"

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Oh, _everything_! Well… She's too pretty."

"Should've known," Nemesis mutters under her breath. "You can't curse her. You can't kill her. You… make her eat! She loves to eat! She _is_ Dionysus' daughter after all."

The other goddess' eyes brighten. "And then she'll get fat! Nemesis, you're brilliant!"

"I try," Aphrodite starts rushing out the door, but Nemesis has one more piece of advice. "Aphrodite, don't let her know you hate her. Keep her close."

"Got it!" Aphrodite flashes a charming smile. "Friends close, enemies closer. Honestly, I learned that, like, a millennia ago."

Nemesis chuckles as she sweeps out of the room once again cool and composed.

Revenge was fun!


End file.
